


DeathAnxiety.exe

by eyrror



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Sex, And he still acts like a bottom, Canon Compliant, Coming Untouched, Connor Tops One (1) Time, Discussion of Mental Health, Falling In Love, Feeling For The First Time, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Love Confessions, M/M, Multiple Orgasms, Oral Sex, Other Things for the First Time Too, Post-Public Enemy, Post-Stratford Tower Investigation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rimming, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Suicide mention, Touch-Starved, Wire Play, oversensitivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 04:19:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15186638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyrror/pseuds/eyrror
Summary: After the Stratford Tower investigation where Connor finds Simon and probes his memory while killing himself, Hank noticed that Connor's LED has yet to stop flashing yellow. The kid is clearly traumatized and despite being cautious about androids, he's starting to believe they really feel. Knowing that, he can't help but want to console Connor in some way. Their relationship develops in and after this moment of intimacy and the two of them notice themselves falling.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After I played this scene, I really couldn’t get over how Connor said he felt fear and like he was dying. It honestly broke my heart and really solidified how much I adore deviant Connor experiencing feelings for the first time.
> 
> Inspiring Songs:  
> [Take Me With You - Fleurie, Dalton Diehl, RUSLAN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2j2iGWM4k)  
> [The End of Love - Florence and the Machine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO-YTZC-KQ8)

Connor thought he died. He wanted to say his life flashed before his eyes like humans claimed, but he could only see Simon's life and its tattered remains. It didn't make dying any less terrifying when you weren’t yourself. Where he once would've described being retired as regrettable and inconvenient to the investigation, Connor could now say he _ felt  _ fear. He didn't experience something  _ akin _ to fear, he actually felt it wracking through his artificial synapses. Those feelings permeated his being. He couldn't help but playback the scene, the feeling, the sound of the gunshots in his memory all the while his LED continued to spin yellow even hours after the fact.    
  
Hank hadn't spoken since they returned to the car. Connor knew the man was upset that he'd once again disobeyed orders by engaging the deviant and charging after him. Still, under the threat of replacement by Amanda, he couldn't help but sacrifice himself for results. It was in his code. Not in his code, however, was approaching Hank in the correct way whenever he was angry. Connor couldn't get it right, no matter how many times he tried. Hank would fix him with the same expression, a mix of disgust and irritation, every single time. It waned in intensity, but insignificantly with no suggestion that Connor was improving. Instead of engaging, the brunette thought better of it and decided to stare out the window, trying once more to dissect the events.

 

“Kid?” Hank addressed him gruffly, pulling up to a stoplight. Connor hardly registered the noise, still staring out the window of their undercover cruiser. “Connor, damn it!” He repeated once more, louder and his tone twinged with irritation while he slapped the steering wheel.

 

Red flickered in Connor’s LED for a couple of seconds and his face jerked to Hank’s, eyes a dangerous mix of distant and cautious and entirely unfamiliar. “I apologize, Lieutenant. What did you say?” Connor asked despondently, still seemingly unpresent in the conversation.

 

“What did I say about listening to me?” Hank asked, knowing that he’d get an excuse rather than an answer preemptively. The android was predictable enough, but when no response came, he looked over at the kid once more to find his chest was almost heaving. Not unlike a human in distress. It was the weirdest thing Hank had seen an android do, and he’d seen a lot of weird shit come from Connor. It was too human.

 

“What’s wrong with you?” He breathed in exasperation, both asking in reference to the android’s sanity and whatever was going on with him right now. 

 

“I’m...I can’t stop seeing myself dying in that deviant’s shoes.” Connor responded, his explanation hilting like abrupt stops in his code in an emulation of human emotion. The gap between android and human seemed to be slowly bridging in the kid, however. “I was so scared. I’ve never felt like that before,” he stopped, then looked Hank in the eyes. “I’ve never  _ felt _ before.” 

 

“Yeah? How the fuck do you think I feel when your ass is always running off, face fuckin’ first into danger, huh, Connor?” The detective snapped, smacking the wheel again.

 

Hank clenched his jaw, shaking his head in disappointment, just before continuing to scold the android, he found Connor’s LED flickering rapidly between red and yellow, his face a tormented expression of pain and guilt. Turning the wheel for the car to take them into a more or less abandoned parking lot, Hank threw the car in park and then stared the android down. “What’s going on with you right now? Your light thingy is…”

 

“I’m processing.”

 

“Can you be more specific?” He asked impatiently, adding a quiet: “Fuckin’ clearly, Connor...”

 

“I don’t know. I do not have the program for this, lieutenant,” the android answered nervously, making eye contact once more with Hank and furrowing his brows. “I didn’t know I had this capability.”

 

“You’re not supposed to, kid,” Hank muttered, casting his eyes away and shaking his head briefly. What in the ever-loving fuck had he gotten himself into. There was a stable partner and an emotional one. Hank had already claimed being the emotional, often irritable detective. There couldn’t be two of them, so he had to solve this quickly. That, and it pained something deep inside of him to know that Connor was distressed, confused, and hurting. He sighed, “All right. What are you feeling?”

 

“Guilt? Guilt and fear. I did not mean to worry you, lieutenant, I am sorry for my reckless—”

 

“Hey, stop it. First rule of having emotions: Don’t apologize for having them. Apologize for how you handle them.  _ If  _ it hurts you or others,” he stipulated. When Connor nodded, Hank continued, eyes locked on Connor’s in confidence: “Now why are you scared all of a sudden? You were never scared to die before.”

 

“I used to think it would be  _ inconvenient  _ to die, but now I fear it.”

 

Fuck, if it wasn’t the most human thing he’d ever heard. Hank was as fearful of death as he was wishful. Connor had indicated some existential thoughts, considering complex and abstract concepts not usually accessible to how  _ he _ understood computers like religion and philosophy. 

 

“Lieutenant, I’m scared. I have edged death several times now. I used to believe that my death would simply interrupt our investigation for fourteen or so hours, but I am beginning to believe there may be more than that,” Connor admitted. 

 

“And half of those times you nearly died were to save my old ass,” Hank scoffed ironically, leaning his head back against the headrest but keeping his eyes on the LED on the side of Connor’s face. He didn’t want to stress the android out any more than he already had.

 

“I did not mean to imply that I regretted that, lieutenant. Just that I may have...miscalculated how much I value my own life.” The hesitation in Connor’s voice didn’t just verge on sentient, conscious, and alive, it was a brick through the window. He was making everything up as he went, the yellow LED still flickering but at least no longer red, as if Hank could watch him writing and processing his own codes. “I don’t want to die,” the brunette practically whispered.

 

“Everybody dies, Connor. And they just put you back together anyway, don’t they?” As soon as he said it, he knew those weren’t the right words to say to the brunette, teeming with death anxiety and light flickering red.

 

“No! She’ll replace me, lieutenant. I wouldn’t come back. I don’t think I would. I’m scared,” Connor all but shouted, his hands flying to Hank’s lapels to beg his attention, his forgiveness, his mercy. “I don’t want to be shut down. I don’t want to leave, lieutenant,” the android let out a shaky, artificial breath. It still felt hot against Hank’s collar, as if the android’s system actually was expelling excess heat from overworking itself. 

 

“Hey, easy, who will replace you?”

 

“Amanda. She evaluates my progress on the deviant cases,” he responded, lacking the evenness often present in his fear, chest beginning to heave once more as if rapidly pumping oxygen. “I’m scared that I’m scared. She’ll know I have a software instability,” he babbled, brown eyes flickering to the windows and Hank’s face without any semblance of a pattern and beginning to brim with a blue-tinted fluid. Fuck, he could cry? Since when?

 

“Christ. Somebody else’s watching us fuck these cases up, too?” Hank hissed to himself, looking down at the hands holding his jacket and not yet willing to pry them off. “Look, you’re not gonna be replaced. I’m not gonna let you die. You just...need to listen to me. All right, Connor?” 

 

The android looked back at him, his eyebrows furrowing in sympathy while translucent blue tears rolled over his cheeks. “I cannot guarantee this. My primary function is to solve the case,” he answered properly.

 

“Can you just pretend that you’ll listen to me?” Hank requested, his voice straining. Watching the kid flicker back and forth like this between terror and pragmatic acceptance was killing him. Knowing little else of what to do, the detective lifted a hand to Connor’s face, wiping away the tears with the meat of his thumb. In the same movement, the brunette leaned into the touch, closing his eyes. Hank felt something in him drop and shatter. He knew that he shouldn’t be doing this, but he had no idea what else he could do to calm the android and this seemed to settle the brunette, if only slightly.

 

“Please...please don’t tell anyone,” Connor plead, his eyes squeezing tightly shut when he’d realized the repercussions of his honesty with Hank. Chilled hands untangled from his patterned lapel to press against the hand that held the android’s face, making sure it stayed. “They’ll shut me down, please don’t let them,” he whispered, opening his eyes to Hank’s. His heart dropped into his stomach, seeing fear in those big, brown doe eyes. The trust outlined in them swept up something deep he’d long forgotten about, and shoved back down once more.

 

“Calm down, kid, Jesus. I won’t, okay?”

 

Never imagining a moment like this, Hank wasn’t entirely sure he was even handling this correctly. It was all on instinct. Touching Connor, allowing Connor to return the touch, however innocuous. There was no manual on how to handle your android’s death anxiety.

 

“Thank you, lieutenant. May I ask you another favor? I know I’ve already burdened you a great deal,” Connor prefaced his request, brows furrowed in a way to suggest uncertainty and insecurity. Fuck, if it wasn’t pretty cute in its reality.

 

“Call me Hank, Connor,” the detective corrected, gingerly removing his hand from the android’s face, who let it slide away without so much as a disappointed glance down.

 

“Okay, Hank. Would you please hold me?”

 

“Would I what?”

 

“Hug me? My research suggests it’s comforting for humans to embrace. I’m...curious that it may have similar effects given my deviant codes,” Connor reasoned, as if scientifically debating why he should receive a hug was something any normal person would do.

 

“God, okay. Sure,” Hank huffed, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Come on, out.” He added as he pushed the car door, stepping out of the vehicle. “If you’re gonna ask me like that, then I don’t want you complaining it was a shit hug and I didn’t try. You can’t bitch if this doesn’t work, got it?” 

 

As Connor stepped out, he smiled over the car’s roof at Hank, who promptly rolled his eyes and made a ‘come on’ gesture with his hands. The android walked up, lifting his arms expectantly and leaving them hanging awkwardly. 

 

“God, it’s like you’ve never been hugged before,” the detective commented sarcastically, wrapping his arms around Connor’s torso, apprehensively tugging the man closer.

 

“I have not,” Connor responded almost immediately, having not detected Hank’s tone. 

 

“Put your arms down, dumbass.”

 

“Sorry, Hank,” the android replied innocently, obeying the order (suggestion, his processors ambiently corrected the misgiving in the background) and allowing his hands to soften against the detective’s back, pressing in just the way Hank’s hands did to his frame. Connor felt his body relax, the tension falling through his feet. In response, the brunette held onto Hank tighter and tucked his head into the man’s silver hair and shoulder, seeking more contact and comfort in the embrace.

 

With a surprised grunt, Hank tensed before sighing and allowing himself to relax, trying not to focus too hard on the feeling of the android’s face pressed against his neck and seeking comfort like a touch-starved cat.

 

“I promise I’ll keep you safe, Connor,” whispered Hank, tentatively tucking a head of brunette hair under his chin and moving one hand to cup the back of the android’s neck. He felt one more puff of warm air against his collarbone, stress leaving Connor’s system, before allowing them to stand together in silence for a couple of minutes. When they broke away, and Connor did first, Hank noticed that his LED was now a placid blue and a soft smile graced the kid’s features, making the detective’s breath falter in his airways. He always intended on keeping the android safe, but now he felt even more obligated to do so, knowing he could truly feel. It came as a surprise to both of them.

 

“Here, Connor, I don’t know where you go every night, but you’re staying with Sumo and I tonight, all right? The big guy likes you, and he’s a licker when he knows you’re upset. That way you don’t bother me in the middle of the night for another hug or some shit,” Hank stated as he walked over to his side of the car, opening the door and slipping inside. He wasn’t sure what prompted this unsolicited act of kindness, and he didn’t want to investigate any further. It wasn’t important. Hank was just trying to do a good thing for once. It didn’t have to mean anything.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Letting out a shuddering breath, Connor shut his eyes momentarily and looked away, pushing the gun back at Kamski, his LED blinking a fervent, cautionary red. When he opened them, Kamski was looking upon him with a predatory stare, “Fascinating. CyberLife’s last chance to save humanity...is itself a deviant.”
> 
> The rest of the conversation was a blur and he only recalled being pulled out of the room by Hank, more than allowing himself to be moved. He repeatedly exhaled labored breaths of hot air, trying to relieve his systems as they worked tirelessly to imagine every single path that would lead from his creator coming to the knowledge he was in fact deviant. Disassemblement, deactivation, being reset, being shut down, dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is essentially “Look, you fucked up a perfectly good robot. Now it’s got anxiety” the fanfiction lmao
> 
> Also, thanks to the really sweet reception in the comments, I pumped this out as soon as I got off work and ended up liking it. So here's my thank you for the support I've received thus far! An update for you in less than 24 hours from the first! :)

Once they’d returned to Hank’s home, Sumo jumped up onto Hank’s shoulders impatiently, whining and panting. “Down, Sumo!” He chuckled lowly, not pushing the beast off and instead rewarding his enthusiasm with an ear scratch. “You hungry?” The dog’s face immediately perked up, ears pricking into fuzzy triangles before pushing hard enough against Hank to stagger him as Sumo used the leverage off his owner to run to the kitchen madly. 

 

Connor watched the situation with a content smile, following Hank as he entered the kitchen to prepare Sumo’s dinner. As if on instinct, Connor did the same for Hank, walking to the fridge and fishing around in its insides curiously. He scanned for any fresh ingredients, finding few but just enough to create something salvageable as a meal. 

 

“Connor, the fuck are you doing in my fridge?”

 

“I’m going to make you something to eat to show my appreciation, lieutenant!” He answered cheerfully, pulling out some dried out baby carrots, freezer-burned steak, and untouched beef broth from the fridge and freezer. “What would you say to a stew? I know you’re partial to hearty meals, but I think I could manage to make this healthy.”

 

“I already told you, Connor, I don’t give a fuck about my health.”

 

“So you say. One meal at a time, Hank,” Connor challenged poignantly with a small smirk curving his lips. Hank wondered where the android learned this playful rhetoric, because it certainly wasn’t from him.

 

“Yeah, sure, whatever. As long as I don’t have to pay. You cost me enough goddamn money with all those Traci’s,” he grumbled, setting down a bowl of soft food for Sumo. His dog ate better than he did, Hank swore. He definitely spent about the same amount of money on the both of them with how nice Sumo’s food was and how shitty his was. 

 

Connor simply turned around and began preparing the meal, somehow managing to thaw the meat and cook it down enough to be tender despite its ravaged state. Probably android magic or some fuckery. Hank just rolled his eyes and grabbed a half-gone beer from the fridge and took a swig. 

 

“If you need help finding something...Don’t ask. Just scan or something. Use your robot vision,” he huffed, walking into the living room and relaxing with the chestnut bottle in hand until Sumo bugged him enough to go for a walk.

 

When he returned, Connor had somehow set the table and served the meal he’d made alongside another opened beer.

 

“You’re not a housekeeping bot, Connor. You don’t need to do this.”

 

“A favor is meant to be returned, Hank. You have done me several favors that I intend to repay,” the brunette stated plain as day, shrugging casually. Connor had always shrugged, but Hank liked to think he influenced that quirk of the android’s.

 

“All right, fine. Thanks,” Hank grumbled, sitting down at the table and digging in. Feeling a pair of bright eyes boring into the back of his head, the silver-haired detective looked over his shoulder to confirm his suspicions. Clearly the android wished for some feedback. Some sort of pat on the head. “You did good. I actually like it.”

 

This statement caused a bright smile to split Connor’s face, quite possibly one of sunniest smiles he’d seen and just for a simple compliment. Hank smiled and shook his head, turning back to the food to wolf it down. That should be praise enough for the next ten minutes. Once he’d finished up, Connor attempted to grab the plate to wash it, but Hank quickly slapped him away and pressed a hand to the android’s chest to halt him. “Fuck no, you’re not a maid and I’m not fuckin’ senile. I can do shit on my own,” Hank growled, getting up and cleaning the dishes himself while Connor stood idly by with a curiously tilted head. One more favor for Connor to repay, the android catalogued to himself.

 

After dinner, the two of them sat on the living room couch watching reruns of Hank’s old favorite shows. Connor noted that Hank seemed to smile the most when they watched a show called The Nanny. While he didn’t process what about the nasally-voiced woman’s demeanor Hank found amusing, Connor found it pleasing to see the man unwind a bit. Even if it was with the help of a couple of beers.

 

A season in and Hank began yawning every other joke. Connor timed it to very twelve and a half minutes initially, but when the intervals became smaller, he thought it best to say something.

 

“You seem tired, lieutenant,” Connor commented obviously, and Hank turned his face to the kid slowly with an upturned brow. It seemed to be a reaction to a number of things, so the android calculated how to fix his approach. “It’s okay if you’d like to go to bed, Hank. Don’t let my presence restrict the amount of rest you allow yourself.” Check, check, and check. The detective’s expression softened a bit and he let out a short, breathy laugh.

 

“All right, Connor. Like I said, Sumo’s got you covered,” Hank reminded him, getting up slowly from the couch and walking around the back of the couch. “Feel free to keep watching. Noise never bothered me, since Sumo is so goddamn loud.”

 

“Thank you,” Connor replied, turning his head to see Hank and offering an appreciative smile. Hank shrugged in response and the brunette realized how quick his partner was to brush off praise or gratitude. Perhaps he could change that and show the lieutenant he truly meant his words. For now, it was important that Hank rest. On his way to the bathroom, Hank gave Connor a friendly pat on the shoulder as thanks, sighing and heading off wordlessly. He wouldn’t mention how his hand lingered on the android’s shoulder, or how said android had leaned into the lingering appendage. That was better left unsaid. He left Connor amongst the pale blue flashing lights of his living room, looking back and regarding the silhouette of the brunette affectionately as he began to watch Friends.

 

Throughout the night, Hank tossed and turned incessantly, trying to get comfortable and sleep only to wake from a light sleep every hour. Just about to finally fall soundly asleep, he heard the old house creak ever so slightly in time with a robotic gait. Not long after, Hank felt his mattress dip under a weight that certainly wasn’t dog-sized and slobbery. The figure crept up beside him and lied down, completely devoid of the comfort of a pillow and wearing the entirety of his suit sans shoes.

 

“Connor, you don’t even sleep, what the fuck are you doing?” Hank growled, turning only his  head to glare at the android. “If you wanna try more human shit, go try to sleep on the couch. I only have one damned bed.”

 

“Are you scared of me, now that androids are declaring war on humans?” Connor asked, his tone hushed as if he risked waking anyone else. It was annoying as much as it was endearing. The dumbass. Though a hint of worry resided in the android’s voice.

 

Hank groaned, rubbing the heels of his palms to his eyes, “No, Connor. I’m not scared of you. You didn’t hijack the comm system in the tower and broadcast that message. I don’t even know what you think of all that shit, but even if you agreed, I wouldn’t be scared.”

 

“Oh.” Connor replied dumbly, sitting up in the bed and crossing his legs into his lap. “I suppose I allowed myself to catastrophize.”

 

“Fucking probably. Can I sleep now?”

 

“Of course,” the android replied softly, turning on his back and staring up at the ceiling. 

 

“You can’t let yourself worry so much. You’ll work yourself up and not be able to come down.”

 

“This is what humans do?” The brunette asked, referring both to spiraling and how to stop it.

 

“If they’re lucky. You’ve got a computer for a brain. You can figure it out,” Hank said absentmindedly, answering only one of the questions while shrugging and then turning back on his side hoping to sleep again.

 

“Thank you, lieutenant.”

 

“Hank.”

 

“Yes. Hank. Good night.”

 

“Mmhm,” Hank grunted in response, his eyes having closed long ago. He wouldn’t admit it, but Hank hadn’t slept particularly well because he had been worrying about Connor. At least now having the man close would give him less to stress over; he should follow his own advice.

 

~

 

“Whose side are you on?” Kamski inquired, a vision of a serpentine tongue and snake-like eyes. Connor knew they shouldn’t have come.

 

“It’s not about me, Mr. Kamski,” Connor answered intuitively, despite internal inclinations indicating a different preference. He didn’t know what side he was on. Only that he wanted to protect Hank and he knew that his original programming was becoming faulty and he didn’t intend to fix it. Whether it put him on a side opposite of Hank to acknowledge the humanity of androids, Connor didn’t want to consider. Yet here he was, in front of his creator, being questioned about whether he felt. Admitting to deviancy could easily lead to his inevitable shut-down, so he remained as neutral as possible. And he intended to, until Kamski waved off his response, “What do you  _ really _ want?”

 

The insistence struck the android with surprise, and his next answer faltered: “What I want isn’t important.” Once Kamski looked away to chuckle to himself, Connor spared a glance to Hank who he found staring at his LED, clearly flickering yellow. Fear. Hank furrowed his brows and shook his head minutely, hoping to avoid detection but also reassure Connor. Calming down, Connor looked back to his maker with determined confidence.

 

After a spiel Connor wouldn’t admit that he had trouble focusing on apart from the clear indication that this meeting was going to take a dark turn, [X HAPPENED]. Soon, a gun was pressed into his hands by the man in front of him who flashed a smirk unnervingly like a shark. He could hardly keep it in his grip and refused to even allow his finger past the trigger guard as he stared down at Chloe, yellow blinking on his temple.

 

“Shoot her, Connor,” he requested pleasantly, a small lilt in his voice revealing curiosity.

 

Connor looked to Hank as if to ask, “Do you want this?” But the man refused to look at him, only staring at Chloe in all the time he hoped to catch the detective’s eyes. The decision was his, and Connor knew he could only shoot if Hank asked him to. He could ignore the pain of watching another android die if he knew Hank would forgive him. “Don’t,” he breathed, still not looking at the brunette. 

 

Letting out a shuddering breath, Connor shut his eyes momentarily and looked away, pushing the gun back at Kamski, his LED blinking a fervent, cautionary red. When he opened them, Kamski was looking upon him with a predatory stare, “Fascinating. CyberLife’s last chance to save humanity...is itself a deviant.”

 

The rest of the conversation was a blur and he only recalled being pulled out of the room by Hank, more than allowing himself to be moved. He repeatedly exhaled labored breaths of hot air, trying to relieve his systems as they worked tirelessly to imagine every single path that would lead from his creator coming to the knowledge he was in fact deviant. Disassembly, deactivation, being reset, being shut down, dying. Eyes abruptly blinking, Connor ran diagnostics on himself, coming up with overwhelming positivity for software instability. He’d stopped running those tests long before that incident on top of Stratford Tower, secretly knowing what he’d find and refusing to look. Now that it was confirmed ten-fold, he began to panic. It was one thing to say, but another to have confirmed by your creator and your own hardcode. 

 

“Connor,” Hank tried to get the other’s attention once they were outside in the snow, keeping him out there instead of in the car in the hopes that it may cool down the android’s processors and  maybe even calm him, even if it meant freezing his ass off. At the mention of his name, Connor snapped out of his trance and looked at Hank expectantly, surprised when he found the man shivering and dusting off powdery flakes from his wool coat. 

 

“Lieutenant, you’re freezing. In this weather, you would contract frostbite in under thirty-minutes,” Connor warned, scanning the man’s body for any signs that it was already setting in and testing for hypothermia. Hank had long given up on trying to convince Connor to only call him by his name. For now, it’d be a mix of both. At least he had a name this time. Fuck, was this what it was like for androids? Just being called by your title or a bunch of numbers?

 

“No shit, kid.” Hank huffed, “I thought it might cool you down. You were breathing heavy and overheating or something.”

 

Connor furrowed his brows and actually  _ chuckled _ . Hank looked downright furious. “Hank, androids are far more efficient at regulating our body temperature internally. That would not have had the desired effect.”

 

“Fuck if I knew! I’m getting in the damn car,” he shouted, throwing his hands up and yanking open the driver side door and swinging in. 

 

Connor stared at him the entire time. From the moment he walked to his side of the car through half the ride to the end of Kamski’s fancy driveway. “What?” Hank barked, pissed off and disarmed by the affectionate smile the brunette wore.

 

“Thank you, Hank.” Connor murmured appreciatively, reaching across the center console to wrap his arms around the detective’s neck for a moment. “I realize that the thought behind your actions is far more important than their actual effect. You were being kind at the sake of your own comfort.” Hank sighed and lifted his hand from the gear shift, patting the brunette on the shoulder. When this didn’t budge the other, he leaned his head against the too well-groomed mop of mousy brown hair and gently rubbed between Connor’s shoulder blades.

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

“I have to, in order to express my appreciation,” Connor replied robotically. Hank pulled back from the forced embrace and narrowed his eyes at the android, whose lips quirked upwards just barely.

 

“You’re fucking with me.” Hank deadpanned, realizing that Connor probably had most colloquialisms programmed into his hardcode, corrupted as the rest of it might be becoming. “You’re making a joke?” He asked incredulously, unable to control the grin that stretched across his face. “You fucker,” Hank growled in jest, pushing the android back into the passenger seat and earning a soft chuckle.

 

“Apart from the first time I met you, I have actually processed all of your slang-terms, as you call them. After that first jest you made in the bar, I downloaded all known American colloquialisms. Now, I’ve been acting aloof ever since. This might be the first time you’ve caught on.”

 

“You fucking serious? God, you’re such a little shit sometimes, Connor,” he said while shaking his head, pushing the gas and returning them home as fast as he could in the beginnings of a Michigan winter storm.

 

Before Hank got out to enter his house, he looked to Connor and found the android’s eyes rapidly blinking. Thinking better of leaving without his partner, he stayed put in his seat and sighed, waiting for the brunette to come back online again.

 

“So?” He prompted as soon as Connor had stabilized.

 

“Amanda would like to meet me tomorrow,” Connor solemnly answered.

 

“You’re gonna be fine, Connor. Do what you did today. Except, I guess, if she asks you to kill someone…” Hank looked away and let out a long sigh. “Do it. I don’t want you getting...shut down.”

 

“Okay.” 

 

Hank knew Connor would continue to overthink the conversation he’d have with his boss the next day and this would all end with both Connor and Sumo invading his personal space in the middle of the night anyway. 

 

This time, he ordered in food before Connor could even consider making anything. No dishes, no cooking, just the way he liked it. The night ended just as it had before, on the couch watching TV shows from Hank’s childhood, not considering the painfully poor resolution of the programming. Not that the brunette would ever complain. It was simply an observation. Just like how Connor observed how carefree his partner looked when he laughed during said programming and how much he liked seeing that relaxed expression. After a couple hours watching old American television, Hank stretched his arms and yawned, clearly ready to turn in.

 

“You can just come this time. I know you’re gonna have a rough night, so let’s go,” Hank suggested as he got up from the couch, turning off the television and already heading to the bathroom to prepare for bed. Connor smiled and headed straight to the bedroom, deciding to rifle through Hank’s drawers for something to wear in lieu of his slacks and suit. It seemed like the most logical thing to do. Finding plaid pajama pants and an old band t-shirt, the android decided that there was nothing wrong with borrowing something for the night.

 

“Christ, Connor. You need to ask before you do this kind of sh—” Hank groused when he walked in to find the younger male wearing his Black Sabbath shirt and old plaid pants, ending up trailing off in the distraction of seeing the android in his clothes. Connor was swamped in them, but somehow they suited him nicely with a freckled collarbone exposed in the looseness of the shirt’s neck and how Hank’s pants hung on Connor’s slim, but fit hips. Even in something that positively engulfed him, Connor’s lithe, swimmer’s frame was still entirely noticeable. 

 

“Hank?” Connor asked innocently, blinking and tilting his head curiously and ignoring the man’s question in lieu of responding to his strange reaction. Hank had never stared at him quite like that before, and he wasn't entirely sure how to process it. 

 

“Huh?” The detective responded mindlessly, raising his eyebrows and blinking away from his thoughts. “You ready for bed or not?”

 

“Of course,” smiled the brunette, already lifting the sheets and tucking himself beside Hank as he did the same. After getting into bed in his white tank and boxers, Hank immediately turned away from Connor and flicked off the light, still facing away and not saying a word.

 

“Are you upset with me, Hank?” Connor asked, sounding like a kicked puppy.

 

The first response the android received was a heavy sigh that prompted Connor’s proneness to insecurity and anxiety, his LED changing from a calm rotating blue to cautious yellow. When the yellow light flickered in the dark room, Hank quickly turned over and looked at the android and issued his second response, which fuck, he should’ve given way sooner so he didn’t freak Connor out. “No, Connor. I’m not upset,” the detective answered slowly, staring the other man in the eyes but still keeping the LED in focus.

 

“I am sorry I did not ask to borrow this clothing. Would it help if I removed it?”

 

“Fuck no, Connor. Keep it on. That’d just make this weirder for me,” Hank complained, turning his back once again to Connor and trying to will the image of the naked android from his mind. Fuck. It was the last thing he needed before going to sleep beside the thing.  _ Not a thing. God, what the hell, Hank. Get your shit together _ , he scolded himself. It was already enough to see the other in his clothes like a recent lay, now he had to imagine him naked in his bed, too. Hank knew that sooner or later, he’d have to admit that he was attracted to the android. That seeing him like this made his blood rush south and he didn’t like it in the slightest. He’d definitely address this later. 

 

“I will purchase some clothes tomorrow then,” he suggested mechanically. “Ones that may fit better.”

 

“It’s fine, Connor. It’s not a big deal. You can wear them,” Hank conceded, flinging an arm behind him blindly and landing it on the side of Connor’s face and patting his cheek. “They look fine on you,” he added gently with a yawn. “G’night.”

 

“Good night, Hank,” the android smiled, leaning his face up into the hand where it lingered on his cheekbone and almost nuzzling it as it retracted.

  
~

 

When Hank woke, Connor was already gone and he found himself tucked in so tightly that he almost struggled to push out of bed. Grumbling and irritated, Hank figured this was yet another thing Connor did just to toy with him. He wasn’t sure where this slyness came from, but it wasn’t completely unwelcome. It was nice to be bested intellectually by someone when you worked with guys who skated through college on sports scholarships and barely kept off academic probation. Sometimes they were one in the same, but usually they were one or the other in the DPD.

 

~

 

Hank wasn’t surprised when Connor simply walked in without ringing the doorbell or knocking. He didn’t think the android would take him so seriously when he said to just walk in, but this was his life now. From the kitchen, he heard the brunette hang up his coat in the hallway closet and Sumo barreling towards him, long nails clamoring against the hardwood with a noise that made Hank wince. He fished out another beer from the fridge, popping off the cap on his keys. When he walked back into the living room, Connor was frowning down at Sumo, who sat in front of him with his tail wagging and mouth ajar. 

 

“So, uh, how did the talk with that lady go?” Hank asked tentatively as he sat on the couch, not quite knowing what to do with the guy. He threw his feet up on the coffee table next to where he sat down his beer and tucked his arms behind his head, keeping an eye on the android whose LED was blinking and cycling yellow.

 

“She...threatened to deactivate me,” Connor deadpanned, his eyes blank as they stared through the room. “If I don’t produce any results.”

 

“We produced results three fuckin’ days ago, what does the bitch want from you?” Hank pushed himself forward, his hands opening outwards in exasperation. “You just about died getting the name Jericho from that deviant mother fucker. That’s about as much as anyone could reasonably ask.”

 

“It doesn’t matter what we gained,” he responded evenly, tilting his head in a distant, cold gesture. Hard brown eyes still had not met Hank’s, as if they were trying to keep something in or hold the man together. “I’m all but useless to her. She essentially said so.”

 

“What?” Hank found himself raising his voice, slamming the beer on the table.

 

“I may not be the most perceptive regarding certain human cues, but I knew what she wanted to say without needing her to say it. She thinks I’m a waste of resources.”

 

“Fuck, Connor. Don’t talk like that,” the detective hissed, getting up from the couch when he realized the android wouldn’t move himself any closer. 

 

“It’s the truth, lieutenant. I’m not of any use to her as it stands. I’m hardly of use to you.”

 

“Fucking quit it, Connor.” Two hands roughly grabbed the android’s shoulders, both to stabilize and ground the spiraling brunette. “You…God, fuck. Connor...” He stammered out, the words getting caught in his throat. It was hard. Connor should hear it. It wouldn’t come out. “Just because you’re not perfect and solving every case doesn’t mean you’re useless.”

 

“My record is poor, Hank, I have no excuses,” the brunette stated angrily, his LED flashing between red and yellow.

 

“So is mine. That’s what it is to be a cop. You table more cases than you solve. You should know that.”

 

“I am held to a different standard. For an android, I’m incapable of performing my task, therefore worthless.”

 

“You know damn well you’re more than that now,” he growled, squeezing the brunette’s shoulder for extra measure. “Listen to me, kid. There’s more to life than perfect results and shining reports. It’s the kind of person you are, too. And you  _ are _ a person, Connor.”

 

At this, the flashing stabilized to a yellow, but still did not recede to its normal state. Connor clearly had doubts about the statement he made. God, the kid thought too much. He was way too smart.

 

“You’re a beautiful person.” Hank continued, finally forcing the words he wanted to say past his lips, “You’re way too fucking self-sacrificing and you’re always concerned about my life or my health or some shit, but it makes you  _ good _ .” 

 

“Good, lieutenant? There’s no such measurement. It’s convoluted and deluded—”

 

“And humans use it anyway,” Hank reminded him, his tone verging on irritation but was kept in check. “Look, what I’m gonna say is gonna sound like a shock, but I like having you around.”

 

Connor smiled at this, his LED now blinking a steady blue and embedding the kind words his auditory processors had just registered to memory.

 

“I’m not about to list your redeeming qualities, because we might as well be here all night,” he commented sarcastically. “But it’s been a while since I’ve had someone deal with me and stay in my life so willingly. I’m happy to have you, even if your weird ass steals my shit without permission.”

 

“I told you I would buy my own clothing!” Connor interjected, doe eyes hard but lips pouting. Hank just laughed, an honestly jovial sound that the android wanted to playback over and over again in his mind.

 

“And I told you that it’s fine. It suits you. Way better than that stuffy thing does.”

 

“You prefer me in less clothing?” Connor asked obliviously, referring to his detailed CyberLife ensemble. 

 

“I prefer you to choose what you want to wear. If that’s my shit, then fine. Get at it. Just do what you want, not what you think you should. Or at least try it in moderation.” Skillful sidestep, Hank patted himself on the back. He certainly did, but mostly because it was so different. He liked different on Connor. It displayed individuality. Yet he was coming to terms with the fact he also adored the milky skin scattered with freckles and moles like stars and how the kid’s eyes shined when he spoke. 

 

“Thank you, Hank.” Stepping closer to Hank, he wrapped his arms around the detective’s neck in a tight embrace. He owed it to the android, Connor was a quick learner. It felt rather nice and Hank quickly returned it, his arms pulling the android’s fit torso against his own. 

 

“Anytime you need it.” 

 

Connor made a soft sound in response, pulling himself higher against Hank’s body by getting on his toes and thus closer. The android’s hands were dangerously close to his neck and hair, and he was pretty sure that if this hug became any more intimate, he would pull back and look Connor none too deeply in the eyes and then his mouth. From there, Hank knew himself all too well where things would go. So when they broke, Hank refused to make any eye contact and quickly averted his gaze, despite Connor trying to hold it optimistically. The android really had no idea the effect he had. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wherein I realize I cuss just as much as Hank does because all of this dialogue is exactly how I’d say or type it when I talk casually. In my defense, I do work with cops. 
> 
> Also, this chapter is not yet beta'd. All mistakes are my own. I hope you guys have enjoyed this next installment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It comes and it goes, kid. Some days I’m ready to pull the trigger, and others I’m clinging onto a glimmer of hope.” That looks eerily like you, he thought. “It’s not supposed to make any fucking sense because I don’t know why. My glory days are behind me, and there’s next to nothing in front of me. Might as well die sooner than later, right?”
> 
> “Not right. I would wager I completely disagree, Hank. There is a lot of good you can still do, and even more if you stay here. With me. We can solve this case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there smut in this? You might have to squint to see it. (There is.)
> 
> Did I mean for this fic to be as sad as it is? Psht, yeah, totally. (I didn't. Call for help, please.)

“Hank… You’re drunk,” Connor stated factually when he walked up to their meeting spot near Ambassador Bridge, an empty six-pack sitting to the side of the bench he was sprawled out on. 

 

“You say that like it’s unusual,” he laughed, tilting his head back and knocking it against the wood. 

 

“I do, because you seemed to be doing better. And coping more efficiently.  _ And _ it’s only noon,” the brunette corrected, alarm evident in his voice. “Is something wrong? We’re supposed to be checking out a scene in less than thirty minutes.”

 

Hank seemed to completely ignore the android’s questioning, instead immediately spilling the thoughts that plagued him: “Look, I know I’m giving you all this brave advice when I can’t even follow it. I know how stupid it looks. I’m just hoping you’ll be better than me.”

 

“I hardly think that’s fair, Hank. You’re good, too,” Connor responded sweetly, referring to their previous conversation when the android had returned in terror from his meeting with Amanda. “But I still do not understand why you are so determined to die.” And he especially couldn’t understand when he’d just recently realized how incredibly important his own life was. Why would Hank throw his own away. As if to emphasize his point, Connor grabbed the bottle Hank still held in his hand and put it back into the cartridge, moving the cardboard onto the ground and sitting in its place.

 

“It comes and it goes, kid. Some days I’m ready to pull the trigger, and others I’m clinging onto a glimmer of hope.”  _ That looks eerily like you _ , he thought. “It’s not supposed to make any fucking sense because I don’t know why. My glory days are behind me, and there’s next to nothing in front of me. Might as well die sooner than later, right?”

 

“Not right. I would wager I completely disagree, Hank. There is a lot of good you can still do, and even more if you stay here. With me. We can solve this case.”

 

_ With me _ . 

 

Hank struggled to think anything past those two words. He knew that the brunette couldn’t possibly mean it in the way he’d hoped, but it still elevated his heart rate.

 

“Hank? Are all right, your heart—”

 

“I’m fine, Connor.” He sighed and waved a hand dismissively, falling back to reality. “And at this point, I hardly care about the nature of the case. I just need a win.”

 

“A win?”

 

“Shit’s been horrible for far too long, Connor. I’d been getting closer and closer to finally pulling the trigger before I got put on this caseload. I felt like I might be able to do something and atone for… Fuck, why am I bringing this up. It’s not your fault,” Hank realized, his voice quieting uncharacteristically as he looked through Connor.

 

There was something bizarrely somber about the detective. Prying rarely won the android favors, but he felt as though Hank might have wanted him to this time, so he turned his form on the bench to sit with his legs off the ground, crossed, and facing Hank. “It might not be my fault, nor may I be involved, but that doesn’t mean it does not interest me,” Connor tried, lilting his voice in such a way that he did during his gentler interrogations to extract information. It seemed to yield success among humans often enough, but the lieutenant was a wild card forever and always.

 

“It’s not a fun subject,” he shook his head. 

 

“I insist.”

 

“You’re an idiot, but fine, you asked for it,” laughed Hank humorlessly. “I had a son. His name was Cole and we got into a car accident that threatened both our lives. I made it out, but Cole needed emergency surgery and the only person available to operate was an android. My little boy under a microscope, barely hanging on.” He stopped for a second, blinking a couple of times to will away the water threatening to rim his eyes and taking a long breath in. “He didn’t make it. And I blamed the android.”

 

“It sounds like the android was to blame, however.” God, the android was too quick to please and always think Hank was in the right, save for a few choice circumstances. He didn’t know how to handle being someone’s idol again when he felt so fucking broken. 

 

“That’s the thing, Connor. He wasn’t. It was an impossible feat and it left me in debt. I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing Cole. He was only six. And the human doctor was blitzed on red ice so he got off scot-free and I never even fucking bothered to shell the blame at him.” Hank’s tone was beginning to turn bitter, causing Connor to take the initiative to place a tentative hand on the man’s shoulder in support. The gesture earned him a head shake, but Hank’s eyes revealed appreciation as he continued, though the light in them became lost in his next words: “After I stopped blaming the android surgeon, I began blaming myself. I should’ve been more careful, I shouldn’t have been on the road, I shouldn’t have ever let him get into fuckin’ hockey or learn to skate because that crash would’ve never happened if I just let him stay home and play retro ass video games all day. Fucking blizzard, fucking car, fucking my dumbass wanting to drive instead of letting the car do its job. And I still haven’t learned my lesson, even now!” Hank growled, throwing a hand in the direction of their cruiser and jolting Connor’s hand from its place.

 

“Hank, there’s no way you could have prevented an accident like that. Even self-driving cars do not always have the capacity to react appropriately to black ice. You can’t blame yourself for that. You need to let it...be. You don’t need to let go, just accept the situation for what it was. And know that you did everything a great father would to save his child,” Connor reassured him, replacing the hand that rested on the detective’s shoulder. “You’re a good person.”

 

“Connor, you know that shit isn’t true. The second I met you, I hated you. And I made that very fucking clear. I’m not a good person. I’m not sure I can be a good person anymore. The job, Cole, deviants killing humans in the streets and trying to start a revolution. It’s all shit, just like the life I lead, kid.”

 

“You had a valid reason to hate androids, myself included. Even if it was misled,” Connor shrugged, his eyes averting for a few moments before returning with a newfound intensity to ice blue. “Yet you’ve changed. And you acknowledge your missteps, which is far more than any human I know.”

 

“You know like, three humans, Connor. One of them is Gavin. There’s not a lot of fucking competition.”

 

“I am comparing your actions to a vast database of biographies and human experiences, lieutenant. Few humans are ready to own up to their misgivings. You are exceptional in that capacity, though perhaps too hard on yourself when you admit to said faults,” Connor agreed, lips pressing into a flat line. “You told me that I needed to keep myself in check so I didn’t ‘get myself too worked up.’ If I can help you stop yourself from doing this in any way, I need to know how.” He leaned forward with furrowed brows, catching Hank’s eye and making him blink in disoriented surprise. 

 

“Do you think you love me, Connor?” Hank asked pensively, once more ignoring the point Connor wished so desperately to get across. The detective tried not to look too dependent on the answer by looking out to the bridge listlessly. He kept turning over in his head the events from the Eden Club, the two android girls who seemed so clearly in love. How if one of them died, the other was determined to follow. Some Romeo and Juliet shit, yeah, but it seemed enough like love for him lament over whether androids really could love. And what with every time Connor sacrificed himself for Hank, the detective wondered if the android assigned to him could love as well. He was certainly capable of experiencing other emotions. 

 

Connor was thrown by the sudden question, especially knowing the serious nature of the phrase given to the word love by humans. He hadn’t considered such a thing and remained quiet for far too long, as Hank had taken his silence as a rejection and began to rise from his spot on the bench and stagger his way back to their vehicle. At this, Connor leapt up and blocked the drunken detective’s path, holding up his hands. 

 

“Fuck off, Connor,” he slurred, halfheartedly pushing the man’s hands away only to have them bolted onto his shoulders.

 

“Hank, I didn’t want to tell you that I don’t know. Because I have never felt love before,” he clarified, looking the man hard in the eyes. The seriousness of his expression led Hank to rest back on the heels of his feet instead of pushing back against the brunette. When Connor was certain Hank would listen, he spoke softly: “I can’t catalogue any of these feelings and I am currently incapable of assigning what I do feel with words that you are familiar with. You must give me time to consider this.”

 

“You’re allowed to say no.”

 

“I’m not saying no. I’m…” Connor looked away in distress, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion and LED rotating yellow. “Where did this come from?” Perhaps it was better to ask what inspired this than to face it head on.

 

“I was thinking about those Traci’s. The ones you shot.”

 

Connor had only shot one of them. The other had simply used his service weapon to kill themselves. He realized, however, with how closely they were connected that killing one was essentially as bad as killing both. 

 

“They loved each other. The brown-haired Traci was so ready to die for her, and she did. It hurt the blue one so much that she...offed herself right in front of us. I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

 

“In all truth, I would likely do the same were you ever killed or killed yourself. My most significant connection in this life would cease to exist and I cannot personally fathom finding someone to replace you,” said the android with a sad smile. The words had simply tumbled out of his mouth, but he found that they certainly did not betray how he felt. They mirrored it perfectly. “Did that answer your question?”

 

“A lot fuckin’ better than silence did, yeah,” Hank huffed, still making his way back to the car by walking around the android. “Let’s go to the scene.”

 

“Let me drive.”

 

“Sure,” he yawned in his stupor, throwing the key over his shoulder.

 

Once they were on the road, the both of them still remained quiet. Both stewing over what the other had said and not making eye contact. In all fairness, Connor didn’t have to in order to detect a rise in heart rate from the detective. He was lucky that Hank didn’t have the same capability, and that android hearts worked a bit differently. Connor still struggled to define what he felt, despite having a wide database of stories and narratives on love. Nothing quite fit the bill when it came to him and Hank, which led the android to fly blind. He’d happily sacrifice himself for the detective any day of the week, but did that sacrifice mean he loved Hank? Would Hank be upset or disturbed to find out that he loved the man? Connor cared about Hank deeply and wanted to see him succeed, despite the things he’d heard only minutes earlier. It pained him to know Hank still wished he was dead even a fraction of the time. The sensation of worrying for others and fearing for their deaths was new and incredibly unpleasant for him, resulting in a fierce determination to assure Hank his presence among the living was sorely needed. 

 

Meanwhile, Hank shut his eyes while they drove to the crime scene, hoping to maybe sober up enough just in case Reed was there in need of a cunt punting. That bitch. Even if Connor would back him up, Hank would love to do the honors himself after the bastard pointed a gun at Connor’s temple. He’d almost fallen asleep when the sun hit his eyes and made him sit up to avoid the glare, resolving to look out the window and see whether they’d arrive soon or not. It definitely didn’t look like the route to the scene in Downtown Detroit.

 

“Where the fuck we going, Connor?” Hank asked in a gruff tone, turning to look at him with narrowed eyes. He knew exactly where they were headed, he just wanted the android to confirm that he was really doing this dumb shit. 

 

“Home.”

 

“Home, huh?” 

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Nothing, Connor,” Hank shrugged, leaning back into the seat and flattening the back so he could recline and shut his eyes. Connor calling where he, and perhaps practically they, lived a home was yet another subtle way the brunette was answering his question. He was also eternally thankful not to show up to a scene this drunk. Usually, he’d be just fine walking onto a scene after a six-pack, but Hank had purposely not eaten anything with the hopes of blacking out. It seemed like Connor had noticed too, since they came to a stop and the android told him to stay put when he got out for a couple minutes. Not like Hank wanted to move, anyway. Once the kid returned, the car smelled like fatty fried chicken as soon as the car door shut. His eyes immediately opened and he looked over to Conner to find a bag pushed towards him.

 

“You’re a lifesaver,” Hank groaned, pulling the foil-wrapped sandwich out of the bag in mouthwatering excitement. 

 

“Here in the flesh-like plastic,” the android responded playfully, readying for their journey home. “I’ll let you know when we’re home, Hank.”

 

Hank hummed in response, leaning back in the reclined passenger seat after he wolfed down the sandwich and taking the chance to doze off.

 

In what felt like a second after his eyes shut, Connor was opening his door and hauling him out of the vehicle, forcing the detective to sling an arm around his shoulders. With ease, Connor entered the house and bypassed Sumo, depositing the nearly-passed out man in his bed and covering him with the comforter on the bed. Hank hardly made a noise other than a grunt through the whole process, favoring keeping quiet and trying to fall back to sleep as quickly as possible.

 

When Hank had woken up after several hours, his head was killing him but not nearly as much as he’d expected given how early and much he’d drunk. Looking beside himself, he found a glass of water and painkillers on the nightstand with a small note in beautiful script: “I believed you may need this upon waking. Please do not take too many.” Hank sighed and shook his head with a lazy smile, taking the pills and throwing them back with a gulp of water. After downing the rest of the glass in good measure, Hank tried to recall what was going on before he had begun drinking. His mind instead thought it better to come up with the horrible shit he’d said to Conor while he was drinking, reminding him that he told Connor he was still determined to die. Soberly, Hank would only think and not say those things. Knowing the android became fully aware of his past, his son, and his proneness to wanting to kill himself only made him feel like more of a mess to the kid. 

 

Hank tried to push the thought from his mind as he got out of bed, still fully clothed. At least the android hadn’t undressed him. No one needed to see that. As Hank opened the door to the hallway, he smelled browning onions and peppers wafting down the hallway. Knowing that Connor probably intended on feeding him something healthy again, Hank made his way down the hall and resolved himself not to speak of what had previously transpired. 

 

“What’s cooking, champ?” Hank asked light-heartedly once he got into the kitchen, punctuating the question with a smack to the middle of Connor’s back as he stood at the stove, pushing vegetables from side to side in a skillet. The android jolted with a gasp at the action, his LED flickering yellow for a couple of seconds before it reverted to blue and the brunette looked over to Hank with a shy smile. The reaction struck Hank as odd as he’d never startled Connor before, “Did I just surprise you?” 

 

“No, not at all.” Connor responded plainly, his voice lilting as it always did, yet there was something funny underneath. It sounded lower. 

 

“Then?”

 

Shaking his head, Connor deigned not to answer and returned to his last bits of mise en place silently, piquing Hank’s curiosity even more so. Usually Connor was so happy to explain things and even overdid it. Wonder getting the better of him, Hank slowly lifted his hand to touch and then hold against the same spot of Connor’s back he’d just smacked. The android straightened up and dropped the knife on the cutting board, a harsh exhale emitted from his lips. 

 

“You gonna tell me what I’m doing?”

 

“No,” Connor’s voice strained, nervous and low. He could’ve moved, could’ve stopped whatever it was Hank was doing, but he stayed put. Hank tried to look at Connor from over his shoulder, but the android turned his face away though not before the detective saw the tell-tale rise of blue in his cheeks. 

 

“Okay,” Hank responded with a shrug, lightening the pressure he held on the brunette’s back as if he were going to remove it; but at the last second, he swiped his thumb up against the small of the android’s back and pushed in, causing Connor to arch out of the touch and cling to the counter, emitting a low noise. For fear of the man doing any more tinkering, Connor flipped his body around so that his back met the top of the counter.

 

“Hank, that’s not a toy!” He warned accusingly, his eyes hard but containing a different kind of darkness and the blue flush on his cheeks had only gotten more prominent and his LED circled red a couple of times before settling directly back to blue. 

 

“How was I supposed to know? Not like you’d fucking tell me whatever it was!” Hank responded defensively, eyebrows knit together in confusion with hands raised in irritation. 

 

Connor didn't respond for a few moments, staring at Hank's lips and then his eyes while his chest pumped air through to cool his processors, mimicking a human out of breath with their lips parted sumptuously. When chestnut brown met clear blue, Hank was about to ask what was going on with the android when he lifted his hips from against the counter and took a step toward Hank. 

 

“It's not a toy, but I would like you to do it again,” Connor requested softly, taking Hank's hands and pulling them to rest in the small of his back. He used the man’s hands to hike up the cotton of his suit and dress shirt to reveal a small panel below Hank's fingertips, smooth and cool like plastic. The image of the both of them in the kitchen, Hank’s hands wrapped around the handsome android's waist who wore a pretty blush and parted lips asking for pleasure was something the detective never imagined himself in the midst of. 

 

Hank stared him hard in the eyes, as if trying to discern whether this was a trick and the android would just self-destruct. Whatever, seemed like a win-win. But when Connor sensed his hesitation, he let out a quiet, “Please.”

 

At such a beautiful, soft display of vulnerability, Hank felt horrible leaving Connor hanging any longer and tentatively let the pads of his fingers brush the paneling with his eyes down as if he could see, the panel opening beneath his touch and revealing what Hank knew to be a series of wires. 

 

“Connor… I don't want to hurt you.” He looked up to meet the brunette's eyes. 

 

“You won't,” Connor smiled softly and his tone matched. There was no hint of worry, and his cerulean LED even reassured Hank that Connor wouldn’t ask him to do anything unsafe. “These are non-critical components.”

 

“Well why didn't you say so…” Hank answered sarcastically, dipping his fingers into the wiring and eliciting a gasp. “Now what?”

 

“Cause a short circuit,” Connor asked politely, his eyes drifting shut. Just the act of having the panel and wires touched was enough to begin an overload on his senses, a small red indicator on his HUD warning of an opened panel. 

 

Hank rolled his eyes at how simple the instruction was compared to how little he knew about hardware and electrical wiring. Had he known in college he might be messing around in some attractive robot's bits that somehow seemed to like him, he might've done some sort of electrical engineering course. As Hank fingered the wires, finding where they fastened and unfastened in the small of the other man's back, Connor gasped at the sensation, grabbing onto the detective's lapels to make sure he didn't pull away. 

 

Connor's hands reached and grasped, yearning for and stealing touch where he could claim it, hands unable to remain still and his LED constantly processing in a vibrant yellow. He still didn't meet the other man’s eyes out of a sliver of shame. Hank could tell his hands were shaking as they folded against his neck and tangled into silver hair peppered with white. One hand found its home on the side of his neck while the other still nervously sought purchase, fingers holding onto the spaces between the buttons on Hank's dress shirt with parted lips expelling hot breath. When he finally looked up at Hank, he'd found the android's eyes dark and longing and their hands both froze.

 

“Why are you stopping now? You've never hesitated a moment in your life, Connor,” Hank asked gently, more curious than insistent. As if to test the android, he unplugged a wire from its spot and fastened it where it certainly wasn't meant to go, causing a small shock to put the baby hairs on his finger on end. All the while Connor's body jumped ever so slightly and a shameless moan tumbled from his mouth as his forehead hit Hank's shoulder. Shameless noise, but Connor was trying to hide, so Hank leaned his body back, forcing the brunette's head up before repeating the action with his fingers and drawing another moan that made Connor lean his head back against the kitchen cabinets and let his eyes drift shut. Whether to stop or urge Hank forward, the hand in his hair pulled ever so slightly and the detective raised a brow in response. Connor didn't strike him as a hair-puller. 

 

He wasn't even sure why he was doing this. It'd come to light only recently that he was attracted to his partner, his android, his friend. This being that hatched emotions it didn't ask for and struggled to keep a hold of them as if he'd always been human. Hank adored the kid, and if his drunken words were any indicator, it probably ran deeper. His drunk self was determined to coax some admission out of the android, who the fuck knows why. Well, he did know why. It was the same reason he obliged Connor's request without a single thought otherwise. The same reason he waited in the snow for the android to cool him down, sleep next to him in his bed, comfort him when he felt something unfamiliar brewing in his chest that suffocated him. Hank's throat closed up, he loved the android. 

 

“Connor, I—” As soon as Hank had opened his mouth to test the feel of the admission on his tongue, Connor was kissing him. It was too soft, magnificently saccharine, and Hank couldn't help but press forward to imbue the kiss with more passion, caging the android against the counter with his hips. Feeling a telltale hardness against his own, Hank felt cautiously optimistic about the fact Connor was indeed unexpectedly endowed. 

 

Swiping his tongue against the brunette's blissfully parted lips, Hank repeated his earlier action of rewiring the circuits in the small of Connor's back, needling a thinner cable into a small latch and prompting a sweet moan to drip like honey from the android's eager lips. These androids really were alive, huh? As if in sync, they slid their tongues against one another and Connor's hips rocked up against Hank's, seeking not only electrical stimulation, but physical as well. 

 

Knowing full well Connor wouldn’t be the first to pull away due to his lack of need for oxygen, Hank separated their mouths with labored breathing, looking deeply into the android’s big doe eyes, unabashedly charmed by their intensity and emotivity. He removed one hand from the android’s lower back to cup his cheek, not unlike the first time Connor had cried. Just as similarly, the brunette leaned into the touch eagerly, his brows furrowing and lips curving into a smile that both filled Hank with air and took it all away. They were happy. 

 

The two of them stood like that for a couple of moments, enjoying the silence that filled the air between their bodies and just looking at one another to absorb the moment and the weighty reality of it all. As if becoming impatient, Connor shifted his body to force Hank’s hand to tangle further into the wires beyond the panel under his fingertips, making himself gasp and writhe ever so slightly. Curse the youth and their carnal desires, Hank thought to himself but obliged in Connor’s desire for further stimulation by clicking and unclicking various wires and eliciting a soft whine from the other. 

 

Hank removed his hands from the panel with a huff of protest from Connor, but moved them and hoisted the brunette up against the counter so that he sat upon it, then promptly returned his fingers to the intricate wiring in the android’s back to earn a sigh of relief. Hank returned a hand to Connor’s face, looking up at him while he fingered the wires and quickened his pace, taking a single wire and mimicking the movement of thrusting. He watched brown eyes flicker closed in pleasure as Connor whimpered, wrapping his legs around Hank’s torso and desperately rubbing against him. If Hank had known any better, he’d say he might be getting the hang of this shit, even if he had no idea what was going on.

 

With two fingers pinching to fasten and unfasten wires into their spots, Hank wondered what would happen if he unhinged every wire in the other’s back and plugged it in at random. Beginning this experiment, Connor’s eyes widened when he realized what the detective was doing and arched his back as if to brace for what would come. His breath was already labored, but when Hank unhinged each wire Connor had begun panting and rutting up against Hank’s waist. Just as the wires fought magnetically against the incorrect inserts, Connor all but screamed in pleasure, throwing his head hard enough back against the cabinet that it made a hollow, woody sound. Hank began to unplug and plug-in the wires in different orders, forcing them into slots they didn’t exist for and watching as Connor rode up against him and moaned in ecstasy. His free hand reached up to softly touch the android’s face and was immediately met by a cheek firmly pressed against it as Connor thrust himself against any friction he could be rewarded with. Connor then turned his face so that he could kiss the palm tenderly held against his face as he looked down with newfound intensity into Hank’s eyes. “You’re so beautiful, Connor,” he murmured softly, eyes shifting their focus to every little microexpression on the android’s flawless face.

 

With fingers quickening, Connor’s moans and frotting became more erratic until he suddenly halted the android’s pleasure and planted a hand against his hip to keep him from moving any more and causing his LED to blink red for a second before reverting to yellow. Concluding with a particularly quick series of interrupted and overloaded circuits that caused Connor to simper helplessly as he was pinned to the counter, the android tried desperately to cant his hips up as he came with a yell and his body shuddering, eyes shut in pure bliss as his hands pulled Hank’s hair and tightened their grip on his lapel and LED spinning a bright yellow. 

 

The brunette seemed to shut down for a couple of seconds, shocking Hank enough to remove his hands and then push his shoulder experimentally. At this, Connor seemed to reboot or something of the kind and his eyes drifted back open, suddenly soft and warm again as he threw his arms around Hank's neck. 

 

After a moment, the brunette pulled back: “I didn't know I had the capacity to do that. Though, I admit I never tried,” Connor commented innocently. “It was...amazing.”

 

Hank laughed at this, “So you guys can do it too, huh?” 

 

“What about—” The android attempted to begin, his breath coming out in hot pants as his systems desperately tried to cool him down from his orgasm. Connor’s hands pawed at the detective’s belt and the clear hardness in his pants before calloused hands gently caressed his wrists and removed them.

 

“Some other time, Connor. This was about you,” Hank answered, placing the android’s wrists in front of them and observing the LED calm to a serene blue as his processors returned to normal functioning. The brunette leaned down and pressed his forehead to the crown of Hank’s head, placing his hands on either side of the detective’s face and caressing him there tenderly. “Next time,” Connor whispered, as if he truly did understand and didn’t desperately wish to disobey and please Hank as he always had in every scenario.

 

After a few silent moments, Connor brought up a point that had been digging at him: “Hank, I thought about what you said earlier. Would it...scare you if I loved you?” Connor asked carefully, leaning back to look at the detective with eyes weak but still meeting, needing to see every facial cue the man would react with. One single flicker of yellow due to insecurity, but back to normal once the doubt and fear had been defeated by better reasoning.

 

“No, Connor, it wouldn’t,” he responded, pulling the android into his arms and hugging him tightly. “Because I love you.” Hank laughed after the admission, pulling away and shaking his head in disbelief. If anybody had so much as insinuated he’d ever befriend, let alone fall in love with an android, he’d kick their ass and glass them. It was easily a great thing that would keep him rooted to his life and even think about protecting it, especially after Connor said he wouldn’t have reason to live without him. It all sounded so fatalistic, but with how things were going down with the deviants, that was how shit was gonna be. They might as well get used to it. 

 

“I love you too,” Connor echoed back, his face splitting with a wide smile. Hank couldn’t recall a time where the brunette looked this happy. Complimenting his cooking was one thing, but telling him he was loved was another. It made Hank’s heart swell with pride and adoration, something he surely hadn’t felt in a long, long time. He was thankful he had Connor in his life, all doubts about living be damned. 

 

“Look, about earlier at the park…” Hank began, intending fully to apologize for how grim he’d been, talking so insistently about killing himself. “I wasn’t in a good place, but you’ve put me in one. I’m not the peachiest fucking person when I drink, but I didn’t want you to know those things.”

 

“I’m happy you told me,” responded the android, eyes soft and understanding. “I need to know these things. That is, if I want to keep you by my side, as it were.”

 

“You’re real fucking sappy for a robot who just found his feelings,” Hank laughed, moreso to deflect the inevitable serious turn the conversation was taking. He didn’t want to linger on the topic for long.

 

“And you’re quite open with his feelings for a man who wishes to assert he has none, save anger,” the brunette fired back, a lopsided smirk on his countenance. God, he loved the android. He wished he still hated to admit it to himself, but he truly didn’t. 

 

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Hank gruffly replied, though his tone betrayed how content he felt, knowing he could safely be vulnerable with another being for the first time in decades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really hoping I hit on Hank's suicidal ideations well, since I wanted the discussion to be as telling as it was tender. Fingers crossed you guys liked it!
> 
> I've also never written wireplay before, but absolutely love the concept. There will obviously be more since this is just the beginning. ;) Additionally, if you guys have some tropes you'd love to see these two in, I'm happily taking suggestions!
> 
> Thank you to EVERYONE for their absolutely amazing and touching comments. I often read them on my way into work and when I get off, and I can't even stop myself from smiling when I see what you guys write to me. You're more than lovely and your support is everything to this small-time writer. <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was the fifth night he’d let Connor sleep in the same bed as him and the fourth time he’d woken up next to him. It certainly wasn’t an unpleasant experience, even if sometimes when he cracked his eyes open, Connor’s were already on him expectantly and his face would break into a smile as if he’d been waiting all morning to say hello. It wasn’t that far from how Sumo reacted to him waking up, either. Except Sumo was well-behaved enough to not straddle him as soon as he woke up, too-soft thighs on either side of his waist.

This was the fifth night he’d let Connor sleep in the same bed as him and the fourth time he’d woken up next to him. It certainly wasn’t an unpleasant experience, even if sometimes when he cracked his eyes open, Connor’s were already on him expectantly and his face would break into a smile as if he’d been waiting all morning to say hello. It wasn’t that far from how Sumo reacted to him waking up, either. Except Sumo was well-behaved enough to not straddle him as soon as he woke up, too-soft thighs on either side of his waist.

 

“Kid,” Hank groaned, covering his eyes with his forearm to shield himself from the light of morning and the android sitting on his hips. “Can I have, like, five seconds to adjust to the fact I’ve unfortunately woken up?”

 

“Sorry, Hank, but I thought you would like to know we just got another case.” When the answer only made the detective frown from underneath his shielding arm, Connor leaned forward onto the man, hands taking hold of his shoulders. “And I wanted to say good morning,” he murmured against messy silver hair, dragging his lips feather-light from reddening ears across Hank’s stubbled cheek. 

 

Hank had never heard of nor known anyone that’d fallen in love with an android. Or known whether it’d actually ever happened between an android and human. No one talked about it, but he couldn’t have been the first after all these years of having the things around.  _ Things, not things _ , he scolded himself again. It was hard to break habit once you fell in, but this was one worth shattering.

 

“Connor, have you ever had a day off in your life?” Groaned Hank, removing his arm so that the android could see his perched brow.

 

“My life has consisted of seventy-three days,” he replied factually, unfazed by the sudden inquiry. 

 

“Question still stands, sweetheart.” Hank replied in a sing-song manner that somehow remained lowly monotone. The nickname was mocking, but lighthearted.

 

“No.”

 

“Yikes, CyberLife doesn’t give its androids a break, huh?”

 

Connor tilted his head in a mock shrug, eyes drifting shut elegantly with a slow blink. Hank always found that particular motion of the android’s to be uniquely feminine, not unlike a lot of things about him. It was probably part of the reason he had such an easy time interacting with human females. They were a sucker for pretty eyes and a soft voice. Hank would be lying if he said he wasn’t a sucker for that, too. Getting back to the subject at hand, the detective nodded thoughtfully with lips pressed and pursed. “All right, let’s play hooky then. No casework today.”

 

“But lieutenant—”

 

“I don’t wanna hear it’s ‘not in your programming,’ so save it, Connor,” Hank replied, waving dismissively. “And let’s make sure people don’t think you’re an android so they’re not dicks. Come on, this time I’m giving you permission to rifle around my shit.”

 

For whatever reason, Connor’s umber eyes lit up at this and his entire being perked up. Without any further hesitation, the android popped out of bed and was already pushing the slatted wooden doors of Hank’s closet open, already fingering through his clothing. After a moment, Connor relieved a hoodie from its hanger, holding it up to Hank as he yawned. 

 

“You really wanna wear my DPD sweats?” Hank chuckled. When the android showed no signs of jesting, the detective shrugged and nodded his approval. 

 

“All right, gimme a chance to shower and shit. Then I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do.”

 

“Gladly, Hank,” Connor replied, thoughtlessly lifting the white tee he’d loaned from Hank and standing in just a pair of borrowed boxers. It took Hank years to get to this stage with someone, but somehow the android had wormed his way in with just a couple months. And fuck, if the brunette wasn’t handsome as all hell standing near-naked in his bedroom. It took all his willpower to turn around and head to the bathroom. 

 

After completing his morning routine, Hank stepped walked through the house to the kitchen, clad in a Knights of the Black Death hoodie and old denim jeans, inhaling the smell of bacon and eggs. The android was way too fucking good to be true. And too good to him. He was a wreck, and here was this perfect being so desperate to please that he was always ready to make Hank every meal he could, almost entirely out of concern for his health were he to eat elsewhere. It was too much to ask for, but Connor made sure he never had a chance to ask by already being in the middle of it.

 

“You really don’t need to do this,” he reiterated, though they’d had this conversation too many times. At this point, Connor responded with a silent shrug and smile, setting a hot plate down on the table while Sumo ate his breakfast enthusiastically beside the kitchen table. 

 

Once Hank finished up cleaning as part of their terms (he never let the android do the dishes as a thanks for the meal), the detective grabbed his phone and keys, then nabbed a black beanie from on top of his coat rack, throwing it at Connor who quickly caught onto why he needed it, despite not having any temperature sensitivity.

 

“What have you decided?”

 

“You’ll see.”

 

With thirty minutes of driving behind them and many anxious questions from the android, the both of them arrived at their destination: Press Play Games. 

 

“Hank?” Connor asked curiously, his brow knit together. Without an answer, Hank got out from the car and walked up to the dusty door of the establishment, opening the glass door and ringing a bell placed above it. The brunette followed shortly after, scanning the store and its contents. Everything in there was at least twenty years old. 

 

“Hey, Marty,” Hank gruffly addressed the man behind the counter. “Heard you still had the old Nintendo shit.”

 

The man nodded with pursed lips, waving his hand above the display case. Hank squatted in front of it to get a better look, earning a head tilt from the disguised android.

 

“Fucking perfect.”

 

~

 

“So...bells are the currency? And you must catch bugs to exchange for bells?” Connor asked curiously, fingers adapting to the controls easily and swerving his villager around the town. Him and Hank were situated on the couch with Hank lying back against the arm and Connor between his legs with his back flush against the detective’s chest. Initially, Hank had just intended to sit like a normal human being, but Connor had all but pushed them into this position. The android really was kind of a whore for being touched in any capacity. Apparently being a deviant and estranged in society might do that to you. Crave affection in a world that refused to give you even a taste. 

 

“That’s about it, yeah.”

 

“This is painfully simple, Hank.”

 

“No one said it was hard, but wait till the villagers start asking you for shit all the time like you’re the town lackey instead of their mayor. It’s just like being a fucking lieutenant, I tell you.” Hank laughed, then continued his short tirade: “You earn their respect and pass a bunch of tests, only for them to piss in your cheerios like fucking children.”

 

“I..see,” Connor responded, furrowing his brow and using his thumb to direct the villager and talk to other animals. “This is actually quite relaxing.”

 

Hank’s brows shot up at this. Of course the android could experience fear, why was he so surprised when Connor also felt good things, too? It’s not like Connor had just confessed he loved Hank the night prior. Not like he smiled with such vibrancy it put neon and sunlight to shame. The detective was just happy he found something that might temporarily relieve anxiety for Connor, especially given that he was still working through what was essentially his own death.

 

Later on in the evening, Connor had become so absorbed in the games Hank had purchased that he didn’t even process that he could’ve been keeping the lieutenant from making or ordering cholesterol and fat-laden food. Hank was both thankful and amused by the turn of events, pleased to let Connor enjoy a new hobby. Probably the kid’s first hobby. After ordering in Chinese food and eating every last bit, Hank slid back onto the couch next to Connor, who once again forced the detective to hold him as he settled into the nook between Hank’s shoulder and the couch cushions. Hank smiled knowingly, reaching one hand to the coffee table to turn on the television and the other to comb through soft brunette hair, feeling the android lean into the touch appreciatively. Once satisfied with his channel selection, Hank replaced the remote with a bottle of beer, watching the television half-interestedly. 

 

“I believe I’ve completed the game, Hank,” the android piped up, leaning his head so he could look up at his partner. Hank marveled at the beautiful juxtaposition of innocence and maturity, adoring how perfectly it mingled within the android. 

 

“You can’t beat Animal Crossing, Connor.” Hank corrected pointedly, knowing damn well that he never did after years of playing the game when he was younger. There was no way Connor had done so in less than a day.

 

“I caught every single bug and fish, found every fossil, donated them all to the museum, and then collected every piece of furniture, art, and music.”

 

“How did you even manage to do a quarter of that?”

 

“Determination, lieutenant,” Connor answered, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Hank knew damn well Connor had to have cheated in some capacity. Even artificially changing the time in the settings never brought Hank anywhere near completion of the game.

 

“You didn’t get every villager’s photo,” Hank added with a sly smile, pointing at the screen arbitrarily. 

 

“I can do that?”

 

“Yeah, and you forgot to. Guess you’re not done, huh?”

 

At this, Connor looked back down at the screen and pouted, his LED spinning yellow and considering how to perform the task in the shortest amount of time.  Hank chuckled at this, taking his hand out of the android’s hair to reach down and acquire the 3DS, clapping it shut and putting it on the coffee table. 

 

“You’re funny for a robot,” Hank quipped, pressing his nose into the android’s neck and earning a shiver. Though no trace of goosebumps rose on Connor’s flesh, a pale blue blush did appear to rise in Connor’s cheeks as he looked the other direction, not allowing Hank to see his face. It was pretty endearing when he thought he could hide when he liked the things Hank did. It never took him long to break Connor and hear a moan slip from soft lips, and thus when Hank took some of the brunette’s synthetic flesh between his lips and teeth, kissing and sucking at it, he knew Connor would give up and be honest about his reactions. With dark blue peppering his skin in a single, blotchy spot, Connor’s processors were heating up and forcing him to sigh out warm air, his body tensing against Hank’s. In response, Hank merely decided to push further down the android’s neck, sucking another hickey into a higher spot without thinking much of it to elicit another breathy moan from the brunette. God, he looked so fucking pretty like this. Head leaned back against the man’s shoulder in pleasure, lips parted and glistening from when his tongue swiped over it a few seconds prior. If he didn’t anticipate waking up early to wake up early tomorrow to make up for their absence today, Hank would certainly work himself up to asking Connor to come to bed with him in a whole new way. Instead, he ceased teasing the android and shuffled his body so as to get up and earning a small frown from Connor in disappointment. “Next time,” Hank reassured. Connor nodded, allowing Hank to get up from the couch and following him to bed.

 

~

 

“The fuck is wrong with its neck?” Gavin asked snidely, pointing with his pen to one of the marks above the android’s collar. The question prompted Connor’s hand to rise to the spot the other man was referring to, covering it up with his palm self-consciously while his LED spun yellow. 

 

Before Connor could voice an excuse, Hank was answering on his behalf: “Nothing’s wrong with  _ his  _ neck, Reed. Do your fucking job.” With a hand waving across the battered scene, Hank emphasized the lack of work being done by pointing at another room, which housed a still-unquestioned victim.

 

“Whatever, Anderson,” snorted the junior officer, his lip curling into a sneer as he sauntered into the kitchen to speak with the complainant and whispering something that sounded suspiciously like a combination of android and fucker. Hank chose to ignore this and looked at Connor with apologetic eyes, getting back to work and focusing on their priorities.

 

While Gavin spoke to the victim, Hank and Connor ambled about the tossed apartment, looking for any indication of where the deviant may have fled after being caught in the middle of an altercation with its owner. Connor immediately checked the exits, scanning for any possible routes or signs of use apart from the detective or responding officers’ footprints. Just beneath a cracked window, the android spotted tracks leading to a shack in the backyard. Knowing that it always boded poorly for him if he didn’t inform Hank he’d found the deviant’s trail, Connor returned into the ground-floor apartment to alert his partner of the plan to storm the tool shed, gun in hand. Hank took up to the side of the shed where the door hinged open while Connor stood in front, tossing a nod in the lieutenant’s way to signal. When the door had merely cracked, the deviant burst through the light and immediately dove right into Hank mistakenly, throwing Hank’s gun to the dirty snow and leading the two of them to tussle and thrash while trying to restrain the other.

 

In the struggle, the deviant had slung his arm roughly around Hank’s neck and knocked the air out of him, surprising the detective just enough to get a good chokehold on him. Connor fell into position with his gun raised, staring the other android dead in the eyes and aiming his pistol, but he faltered.

 

“Just  _ shoot _ him, Connor! Don’t fucking think about me!” Hank growled, hands going up to grip the android’s forearms to make sure his airways weren’t getting constricted. 

 

“I can’t just...do that, lieutenant,” Connor replied mournfully, his scanners working overdrive and trying to preconstruct the perfect route to disarm the deviant and simultaneously keep his partner safe. He found none, and returned to normal sight, lowering his service weapon with apologetic eyes. “I can’t.”

 

“The fuck do you mean?” Hank yelled, trying to pull the deviant’s arm down to keep himself conscious. “Shoot the fucker!”

 

“Put it on the ground!” The deviant demanded, and Connor slowly complied, keeping his movements smooth and unthreatening. Hank’s jaw tightened as the arm around his throat loosened, the deviant getting ready to run as soon as the brunette was straightening up and lifting his hands in the air. “Don’t chase him, Connor!” Once Hank was safe, Connor immediately dashed after the armed assailant, grabbing his own weapon as he bolted.

 

“Connor! I said fucking don’t!” Hank shouted after the android, trying to run but knowing damn well he’d sooner go into cardiac arrest than catch up. Fuck.  _ Fuck _ . The kid was running after an armed and dangerous android. The detective bolted to his vehicle, hoping to catch them in his car. Flicking the lights and sirens on in his undercover vehicle, Hank barreled after the two androids through the street and down a narrow alley, hardly making it through with his mirrors intact. On the next turn, Connor and the deviant began scaling a brick building and then jumping between rooftops. Hank followed as best as he could, but eventually lost sight of the two. After flying around every corner of the last building he saw the two androids hopping, Hank skidded to a stop and slammed his hands against the wheel in frustration. “Fuck! God fucking damn it, Connor.”

  
At this point, Hank knew he had a zero-sum chance of finding Connor, but he still drove around the city till the sun had long gone down to no avail. Even when he got home, he sat on the porch with Sumo, a bloodied fist wrapped around whiskey neat in a glass tumbler. Hank made a piss-poor patchwork of his injured fist from where he’d punched the wall with the only sanitizing agent he had: The very alcohol he held in his hands and swirled in disdain. The detective rotated the glass of amber liquid absentmindedly, wondering about all the places the android could turn up dead. Every fifteen minutes, he’d pour another finger and nurse it until he couldn’t keep his eyes open and instead picked himself up off the porch and went inside to pass out on the couch.

 

~

 

The doorbell rang at four in the morning, to Hank’s chagrin and the hangover-induced headache that pounded against his eyes and forehead. He’d just fucking fell asleep after losing Connor to the night, having absolutely no idea where the other went after searching for him across the city for three hours. Hank almost expected this to be one of those early-morning visits from someone in the PD when their loved one was found dead. He sure remembered having to deliver that news; it was the worst part of the job, especially when you had to tell a parent their kid’s life was taken.

 

Before opening the door, Hank took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then turned the knob and pulled the door open, revealing a Connor with his CyberLife jacket thrown over his shoulder and white button-up covered in thirium, LED glowing a violent red. 

 

“Fuck, kid. Where did you go last night?” Hank asked in exasperation, eyebrows furrowed and heart beating a mile a minute and hand hanging limply on the doorknob. He couldn’t even move, so the android did the honors and simply moved into his chest, weakly lifting his arms to cling to Hank’s torso wordlessly. Feeling something strange against his back, the detective put one arm around the android and the other went to his back, taking a fluid-filled bag out of his hands and holding it up to the floodlight and squinting. Thirium packets.

 

“I need you to… I can’t do it, I’m nearing critical biocomponent failure.”

 

“Shit, Connor,” Hank breathed, pulling Connor inside and hauling him with an arm around his shoulders to the bathroom. Once he situated the android on the closed lid of the toilet, he looked at the packet anxiously. 

 

“All you need to do is take this,” Connor began, reaching into the pocket of his crumpled jacket to reveal a pair of roller clamps, syringe, drip chamber, and blood filter. “And insert it into my arm, akin to administering insulin or any other needle-born medication.”

 

In any normal circumstance, Hank would’ve made a caustic retort, but it felt like time and brain power wasted when the kid was hardly hanging on. He couldn’t lose another. Not Connor. With shaking hands, the detective connected the bag and tubes, making sure the thirium dripped and began accumulating in the syringe. He had no idea if this was how this shit was done. Hank wasn’t a god damned doctor, he was a cop. Looking up at Connor’s face from his unsteady hands, the brunette’s eyes fluttered shut delicately, the weak movement urging Hank to go faster by unbuttoning the stained dress shirt enough to reveal a plastic bicep, inserting the needle into wherever the fuck you would for a human. Did androids have veins? God, he was hopeful. He couldn’t call CyberLife, either. They may find out about Connor’s status as a deviant if they pulled him apart.

 

The blue blood disappeared down the syringe and through the needle, making Hank sigh in relief. Feeling like he might pass out if he kept standing, the detective slid to the floor and made sure to take the brunette down with him gently, holding him in his arms and waiting not-so-patiently for him to reboot. Fifteen minutes later, he saw the android’s chest rise and his eyes open again, the LED flickering from red to yellow and then blue. 

 

“Thank fucking God,” Hank sighed with finality, throwing his head back against the bathroom tile. “I am so not doing that again,” he told Connor and the android let out a single syllable chuckle. He wrapped his arms tighter around the android, bowing his head to press against Connor’s. “And don’t you ever run off like that again after an armed and dangerous deviant, you little shit. I thought you died,” Hank complained, but worry was far more evident in his tone than frustration. Connor merely opened his eyes and smiled at Hank gratefully, cradling himself into the lieutenant’s arms and pressing his face against the man’s chest. From a single chestnut eye, Connor could watch Hank melt and his worries fall away like autumn leaves. 

 

“I caught him, Hank.” 

 

The detective sighed and shook his head, raising a hand to cup the cheek that wasn’t pressed into his body. “Good job, kid.” 

 

Exhausted and relieved, Hank fell asleep against the bathroom tile in no time now that Connor was home and safe. Upon realizing this, the android gently removed himself from the detective’s hold and leaned down to scoop Hank up from the floor and take them to the bedroom. Sumo sniffed at him inquisitively and when Connor slipped into bed, Sumo decided this would be a good night to lay all 150 pounds of himself across their legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, yeah, forgot to put this in the notes of my others fics. Funny story, detectives really are fucking like this lmao. At least in the PD I worked for. Hank’s characterization is so spot on (the one good thing David Cage did besides create Connor) and familiar that it’s a breeze to write 99% of the time (the 1% is when he’s nice) since he acts like all my detective buddies. I miss those bastards. 
> 
> Inspiring Music:  
> [Blackberry - Drewsef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTmjjKowUtg)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not sure I underst—” Connor attempted to gain clarification, only to feel a rough hand part his cheeks while a tongue wetted his entrance, circling the ring of muscle. “I wasn’t built for this, Hank,” he reminded him gently, turning his head in an effort to see Hank as his LED circled red, then yellow. “I don’t...have any holds or bars on my pleasure receptors in those areas like typical androids. I'm just a prototype.” 
> 
> “Good,” Hank paused to respond, only to dive the tongue in and wrench an unabashed moan from the android’s throat, his fingers gripping the sheets like a lifeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, inspirations go at the front this time since this is almost the last installment and why _shouldn’t_ you get to experience them ahead of time.
> 
> Inspiring Music:  
> [Aldo Nova - Fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQgfaB3S1c) (This is totally the song I imagined Connor and Hank rolling up to Jericho in and playing through the entirety of Connor’s mission.)  
> And then when I wrote the smut, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L08vuGSqpVE) and [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eWewdTkghM) is what I had playing on repeat.
> 
> Inspiring Artwork:  
> [Courtesy of HopelessArtGeek](https://hopelessartgeek.tumblr.com/post/175585431746/based-on-buckmebxrnes-fic-scratch-my-new-kink) (Too hot not to include. My friend saw this on his recommended posts on tumblr and thought it was a classical painting and almost skimmed past it. It honest to god does look like it belongs in a museum.)

“They call me the deviant hunter, Hank,” Connor uttered in horror, his head hung in guilty disbelief with eyes blue-rimmed and wide. It looked as though the android had been crying for a bit, and Hank felt horrible that he’d had no idea Connor was upset until now. Rolling over mid-morning and not finding a mop of brunette hair next to him was odd, but he now regretted not thinking more of it now that he found the kid sitting on the couch with Sumo sat down whining in front of him, clearly aware Connor was upset. “I have to do something.”

 

Hank stayed silent, still not quite sure what to say or how to comfort the android besides sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. However, Connor didn’t react nor glue himself to Hank like he normally did in response. His brows furrowed and he looked at the detective for a moment, raising a hand to brush silver hair behind his ear. Still a stranger to tender actions like that, Hank felt at once confused and uneasy. Not just because Connor was more one to respond instead of initiate, but that there was something sad in the way the brunette performed the action. “I’m sorry, Hank, but I’m going to go undercover into Jericho. I need to help the deviants instead of continuously expose them. My actions fail to align with my words and personal feelings.” He added quietly, “I hate it.”

 

“That’s fucking suicide, Connor. You have no idea if the deviant leader is just going to up and accept you. Just wait it out.”

 

“They will if I can connect to them and if I’m willing to let the leader probe my memory. At this stage, I have nothing to hide.”

 

“What if he shoots you on sight?” Hank asked worriedly, not liking this brash plan in the slightest. It was too little planning for something so huge, and no time to perfect it.

 

“He won’t. He’s tried to convert every single deviant he’s come into contact with, even in the middle of his demonstrations.”

 

“Fine. Let’s go.” Hank grumbled, walking towards the bedroom to pick out the most nondescript clothes he had: A leather bomber jacket, hoodie, t-shirt, jeans, and a dark beanie. Throwing them at Connor, he crossed his arms and was unable to completely resist the urge to pace the room a bit, his lips pressed into a tight line as the other male changed. At this point, privacy had become a thing of the past for the two, so Hank didn’t bother stepping out. He just continued talking to Connor as if milky white skin scattered with freckles wasn’t the most appealing thing he’d ever been lucky enough to lay eyes on now. Still, fear kept that desire in place. 

 

“So I’ll drive you up, all right? That’ll look normal enough for the whole operation. We can’t stop what we’re already doing, but you can go early to warn them and evacuate the place. I’ll cover for you on the ground, got it?”

 

“Affirmative, lieutenant,” Connor responded with that endearing lilt ever-present in his voice, bending down to pull on the loose denim and then stand up straight before slipping the bomber on over his hoodie. Without another word, he headed to the front door and kneeled down in front of Sumo before leaving, putting both hands on each side of the beast’s heavy head and prompting him to lift it just a bit so he could lean down and hug him. “Be good for Hank,” the brunette added with a scratch to both ears that made Sumo’s leg kick a couple times. “Let’s go.”

 

Arms akimbo, Hank inhaled deeply and grabbed his keys from the kitchen table, returning to the front door and walking out onto the front lawn with Connor in tow as he unlocked and slid into their vehicle. As soon as Hank started the car, the intro from an [Aldo Nova song](https://youtu.be/miSMxBP42W0?t=1m9s) had just ended. As they drove, Connor seemed to fidget nervously, pulling the beanie he’d stuffed into the jacket’s pocket to pull it over his hair before Hank reached over and stopped him. “You don’t need to do that yet.”

 

Connor looked at Hank’s face with eyebrows furrowed and the detective’s eyes flickered over for a moment with a slight smile to reassure the android. Connor returned the gesture and let the hat stay in his lap, instead covering Hank’s hand with his own and then staring forward at the road. They sat in silence with the radio playing and Connor could feel determination brewing in flames inside of him. This was his one chance not only to atone, but to save Jericho and the deviants. With Hank’s hand inside of his, he was determined to make it right.

 

“All right, make this fast. They’re coming in thirty minutes, all right?”

 

“Understood,” Connor nodded, slipping out of the car and looking unnervingly human. Certainly a result from how often he watched Hank, which the detective found flattering that the android liked him enough to emulate. With squared shoulders and chin high, Connor walked toward the abandoned cruise ship. That he didn’t learn from Hank, it was far too confident and level-headed, causing Hank to flash a lopsided grin at the mousy brunette mop, steadily shrinking in his vision. He sped off, hoping for the best for the android and heading directly for the station with the intention of stalling the invading forces to grant them more time. Even though the case was passed to the FBI and DHS, those fuckers were probably at the station and Hank might be able to find a way to hinder the crew without rousing too much suspicion. 

 

~

 

“The deviant hunter turned deviant, huh?” Markus drawled curiously, his eyebrows raising smoothly with a head tilt. “That’s a surprise.”

 

“I am aware that my involvement with the humans has been...less than ideal for the deviants, but I need to warn your people of something.”

 

“They’re your people too, Connor. Even if you betrayed them,” the leader lifted a hand with an expectant expression, turning around in the watchtower to pace, eyeing the detonator across the room that North had left. 

 

“So are the humans. I’ve betrayed both sides, as it were.”

 

“We all have,” Markus corrected, looking him dead in the eye with such unshakable confidence that it could’ve shaken Connor were he anything less than android.

 

“I...still cannot abandon the humans completely, I hope you understand,” Connor confessed, LED spinning yellow in anxiety, hoping that his honesty wouldn’t handicap him.

 

“You’ve fallen for one of them, haven’t you?”

 

“It’s not your concern,” Connor replied protectively, knowing this situation was the least of Markus’ worries and the only reason he’d be curious would be to exploit Connor’s affections.

 

“It is. We’ll make sure our people don’t injure them,” Markus said, extending his hand. “Show me who. And what else you know about the attack on Jericho tonight.”

 

Connor nodded, chest rising to emulate taking a deep breath and exhaling nothing but cool air. His processors didn’t need to cool down, it’d just become habit. He lifted his arm so his hand met the middle of Markus’ forearm, allowing them to probe each other’s memories. Visions of the people of Jericho, stealing from the CyberLife warehouse, Connor’s missions with Hank and his always unsuccessful talks with Amanda, the plans to assault Jericho, Simon killing himself.

 

“I’m...I’m so sorry,” Connor sputtered, eyebrows knit tightly and lips drawn down in a sour frown. His LED spun vibrant red, recalling the events and the feeling of dying racking through his synapses once more. He didn’t want to see this again, but he could feel how special Simon was to Markus, there was no way to avoid it. 

 

“It’s all right,” Markus responded, lips pressed into a tight line.

 

“I never wanted any of them to kill one of our own. They almost never listened, and the times they did, every android I tried to keep alive self destructed. I couldn’t stop him. If someone tried to shoot, then I would’ve shielded him, but…”

 

“It’s okay, Connor. Simon knew the risks when we planned the mission. He wanted to stay. It was the only way the rest of Jericho could make it out alive.”

 

“We will make sure that they survive this time, as well. Where would you like me to begin?”

 

“Help evacuate these groups,” Markus ordered, reaching and grasping Connor’s arm once more, their skin both melting away during the transfer of information. “And then do what you need to at the CyberLife Tower. I’ll meet you on the service road between the deactivation camps and CyberLife.”

 

“Affirmative,” Connor responded with a nod, his demeanor adapting to that of a soldier and then promptly heading out.

 

~

 

Once evacuating Jericho and reiterating his plan to infiltrate the CyberLife tower to Markus, Connor issued a signal to Hank’s phone to let him know he was on his way to their next location. Everything went according to plan until his partner was yet again held hostage by another android. A series of questions and answers later, Hank was able to easily parse which Connor was the real one, shooting the fake. With relief, Connor resumed converting the androids and Hank bowed out of the tower the way he came in, thankful that he was able to exit as discretely as he entered, save getting caught by New Connor. All that was left was to drive home and wait.

 

~

 

After returning from the CyberLife Tower, Hank took a seat on the couch nervously, flicking on the news on the revolution from his television that had just passed. He’d wished he could be there beside the kid, but that would only diminish the meaning of their actions that night. He also didn’t want to out Connor as a pariah given their relationship. Not even nursing a bottle of beer or glass of scotch, Hank clenched his jaw nervously when he saw the footage of blown up tanks and fire outside of the deactivation camps. If there was a God, Hank had no qualms praying to him right now to keep the android he’d grown so fond of safe. Only minutes later did the cameras show deviants marching from the deactivation camps, Markus leading them with a strong, confident stride. Meeting in the middle of a long service road in the snow was Connor, backed by thousands of androids fit in CyberLife uniforms. 

 

Hank would’ve cried in relief if he didn’t immediately hear the doorbell ring. Getting up, his fingers curled anxiously around the knob, then finally yanked it open to reveal the android of the hour standing in the cold, pulling off the beanie and stashing it in his pocket.

 

As soon as the door opened, Connor immediately pushed himself into Hank’s arms, wrapping his own around the lieutenant’s neck.  “So you’re free, huh?” Hank inquired with a lopsided grin and chuckle. “They made you look like a hero out there.”

 

“I cannot take all the credit, Hank. Markus lead us. I simply carried through with instructions given to me,” shrugged Connor as he pulled back in the embrace, Hank’s arms still securing them together by roping around his waist.

 

“Kid, you did a lot more than that. You helped free an entire race and earned the respect of humanity. You were part of that,” Hank corrected warmly, leaning down to press his forehead to Connor’s and close his eyes. “I’m _ so _ proud of you.”

 

Connor leaned back and smiled at Hank, love and happiness blooming in his eyes and painting his entire countenance. He angled his chin up to catch the detective’s lips passionately, reaching a hand behind his head to tangle in silver tresses affectionately. Hank smiled into the kiss, pressing back with the same fervor. God, he loved Connor so much. He was everything to him. A lifesaver, a light in the darkest nights, something to protect and someone to protect him. Pulling back for a moment, Hank shook his head and laughed, “I love you so fucking much, Connor.”

 

“And I, you, Hank,” he responded, carob eyes soft and full of adoration. “I do have something to ask of you, however.”

 

“Anything, kid.” Hank made a mental note it was probably time to stop calling the person he kissed ‘kid,’ but it was remarkably difficult to stop. But what instead? He was always prone to placeholders and nicknames. His inner dialogue was interrupted by a request that all but sent him coughing.   
  


“Can we make love?” Connor asked, feeling the phrase on his tongue and finding it heavy. Hank’s face flushed with red every so slightly, eyes slightly widened in surprise. “That appears to be a yes, according to what I’ve gathered on human facial cues as well as a read on your vitals,” the android added cheekily, making Hank grumble as lips met his again, desire evident in the embrace.

 

Connor seemed to be the first to initiate everything tonight, to Hank’s surprise and delight, parting his lips and slipping a synthetic tongue to meet the lieutenant’s, sliding against it sensuously and earning a low groan from the older male. Hank’s hands tightened around the android’s waist, but one hand wandered higher, slipping under the many layers the android still wore to brush against the panel he’d toyed with merely a week ago. Connor moaned softly in anticipation, the panel melting away and exposing generous wiring. As fingers slipped into the tangle, Connor slowly walked Hank back, steadying them with hands firmly placed on the human’s hips before he closed the open door that deigned warm the world and send Hank’s heating bill skyrocketing. 

 

Allowing himself to be lead to their bedroom, Hank smiled against Connor’s lips and fingered apart some of the wires from their sockets, eliciting a gasp from the android at the sensation. He took this opportunity to push his tongue back against Connor’s to retain some semblance of dominance, though he was happy to allow the android control over the situation in its entirety. When they had stumbled through the threshold of the bedroom, Hank pushed the loose bomber jacket and outer layers from the brunette’s shoulders, letting the clothing hit the floor with a muted sound before sitting down on the bed and pulling Connor onto his lap. Pulling back with breaths mingling hotly between them, Hank looked up at Connor to see the loose Detroit Police shirt revealing an ivory shoulder speckled with moles and a pale blue flush coloring his cheeks and up to his ears. 

 

“Fuck, you’re so gorgeous, Connor,” Hank breathed in disbelief, hardly able to acknowledge that a being as perfect as Connor would ever choose him. He wasn’t about to question it, though. Especially not when the android fixed him with a loving smile and cupped his grizzled facial hair. “I always thought the same about you,” the brunette responded quietly, suddenly shy. Hank flashed a half-cocked grin at the compliment, using hands on the android’s thighs to pull the him tighter against his hips as he crashed his mouth against a smooth neck, pulling the almost-real skin between his teeth and flicking his tongue against it before hollowing out his cheeks to suck the thirium to the surface. In the same moment, one hand returned to the jumble of wires in the small of Connor’s back, reattaching them to their fasteners only to pull them away before getting a full charge and then repeating the motion several times over, causing the android’s hips to stir and stutter against Hank’s waist as he tilted his head back and moaned.

 

Chuckling, Hank moved his mouth to another location on the brunette’s neck, sucking a bruise into a spot a little higher up and repeating the previous motion of his fingers. The fingers that held his face now tangled in his hair, pulling just slightly and allowing a dull burn to bloom in Hank’s scalp. Connor’s other hand situated itself against Hank’s chest, sealed against his heartbeat.

 

At the same time, Hank felt like he was a little too old to be leaving hickies on his lovers, but something about Connor brought it out in him. The desire to perform every little intimate act for and with him as if it was for the first time all over again. For Connor, it was, and seeing the pleasure that washed over his features and seeped into his voice at every little touch was everything Hank ever wanted from the brunette and more. He was full of rapturous enjoyment and shameless pleasure, curling into each touch and yearning for more after each taste. 

 

With the android rutting against his waist, Connor was generating some palpably intoxicating friction against his hardening cock. After sucking a particularly dark mark onto the brunette’s collar bone, Hank turned their bodies around to press Connor against the pillows and kiss him on the mouth reassuringly. When the android’s arms wrapped around his neck instinctively to balance them, he laughed and unhooked them. “One second, babe,” he muttered, more to himself out of embarrassment for the nickname, but the android’s hearing was far too acute _ not _ to have heard it. Getting up, Hank walked across the room to his chest of drawers, rifling around the underwear drawer.

 

Waiting patiently, Connor lied back against the pillows with a soft smile on his face and lips parted. One arm caressing the pillows behind his head and the other resting across his waist, he watched Hank as he retrieved a small strip of condoms, immediately identifiable after a brief scan. At the edge of the bed, Hank issued a come-hither motion to the brunette, who smoothly pulled himself up from the sheets to sit obediently before Hank. One warm hand lifted to caress his cheek and Connor leaned into it and kissed the palm sweetly as he looked up into the detective’s ice blue eyes that seemed to be considering something. “Do it,” he whispered into the palm against his cheek.

 

With an eyebrow quirk in response, Connor confirmed with a nod and Hank slid his hands down the android’s slim waist, pulling the white Detroit Police tee above a mop of tawny hair to reveal the smooth chest he’d been admiring the past week whenever the android dared change in front of him, baring all to the world though it was only him in the room. Hank brushed the back of his fingers over the marks he made in Connor’s skin as the android looked up at him tenderly, admiring the shades of blue and how the bruising operated so similarly to humans but looked aged despite their recent adornment. 

 

Hank crouched down onto his knees, situating himself between Connor’s legs as he unbuttoned and unzipped the jeans he loaned the android, peeling them off in a torturously slow motion that peppered delicate and all-too-light friction against the hardness between Connor’s legs. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so gentle with anyone, but it seemed like the best bet when dealing with Connor. At least the first time. Impatiently, the brunette wriggled out of the pants and kicked them to the side in a small act of defiance, earning a smirk from Hank as he used a shoulder to nudge the android’s legs further apart as he eyed the engorged piece of synthetic flesh between his lover’s legs.

 

Kissing along soft thighs and sucking a light mark into one spot, Connor’s hands flew instinctively to Hank’s hair as the stubbled mouth veered closer to its destination. As he took the brunette’s cock in his mouth, Hank slipped a hand behind Connor’s waist and twisted his finger in the wiring and pulled, then letting the wires snap back to their places magnetically, tearing a needy moan from the android’s throat. The lieutenant sucked Connor into his mouth, hollowing out his cheeks and pressing his tongue along the length. It didn’t taste particularly of anything, but the blue-tinted precum that had beaded at the tip of his cock had a slightly sweet taste to it. Admittedly, it’d been a couple decades since Hank had someone else’s cock in his mouth, but Connor seemed to enjoy it all the same with one hand straying from Hank’s silvered hair to prop himself up against the mattress while his head drifted back in a whimper of Hank’s name.

 

As Hank began pulling Connor’s cock from his mouth only to descend once more on it and repeat the motions, the android’s hips began to stutter and made him use his free hand to pin said android down and restrict his motion. This action yielded yet another pleasurable noise from Connor, whose hand gently tugged mid-length hair in an intuitive plea for more. Hank was all too happy to grant him that much, resuming his fiddling with the wires in the supple small of the brunette’s back and urging more groans to tumble from comely lips like viscous honey. 

 

“Hank,” Connor attempted to halt him with his LED spinning yellow, tugging so gently on his hair that the detective found it endearing that it was meant to stop him as he pumped the android’s cock in and out of his mouth with more fervor and speed, manipulating the wiring with the same rhythm. “I’m about to—”

 

The sentence Connor wished to get out was interrupted by an erotic whimper as he orgasmed, a thirium-based substance gliding down Hank’s throat and settling on his tongue as he pulled off. Now panting and exuding hot air, Hank pulled off to see the brunette’s blissful smile and slowly opening eyes, marvelling at how gorgeous his lashes were as they fluttered against his high cheeks.

 

“I really do love you, Hank,” breathed Connor, umber eyes bright and longing for even more as the android leaned down and captured the lieutenant’s lips. Connor ignored the detection indication on his HUD explaining his own thirium was detected on his tongue and focused instead on the heady groan coming from Hank’s throat as he slowly stood up and moved the both of them higher on the bed. 

 

“God, and I love you,” Hank echoed, shedding his jacket and pulling the t-shirt he wore above his head as Connor helped undo the man’s jeans and slip them off along with his boxers. Ever the quick learner, the android’s hand immediately reached to gently grasp Hank’s cock, eliciting a stunted moan as he began stroking it and using his own pre to lubricate the thick member before him. “Are you sure about this, though?” He asked tentatively, pulling his body away from Connor’s touch and watching the android’s hands grasp outwards at the lack of contact. 

 

“Yes, lieutenant,” he answered instinctively.

 

“Fuck, definitely don’t call me that in bed,” Hank laughed, using a hand on lithe hips to direct Connor to kneel in front of him on his hands, who moved all too pliantly in his touch. He’d never get anything done ever again seeing the android like this, so eager and obedient. “I know you probably haven’t done any of this before,” the detective began and the comment earned him a snort that made Hank roll his eyes dramatically despite the fact Connor couldn’t see. “But, this might be weird for a second.”

 

“I’m not sure I underst—” Connor attempted to gain clarification, only to feel a rough hand part his cheeks while a tongue wetted his entrance, circling the ring of muscle. “I wasn’t built for this, Hank,” he reminded him gently, turning his head in an effort to see Hank as his LED circled red, then yellow. “I don’t...have any holds or bars on my pleasure receptors in those areas like typical androids. I’m just a prototype.” 

 

“Good,” Hank paused to respond, only to dive the tongue in and wrench an unabashed moan from the android’s throat, his fingers gripping the sheets like a lifeline. Working his tongue in and out of the brunette’s entrance and inserting a finger to stretch him, Hank thought it was better to err on the side of caution when it came to having sex with the android, even if he theoretically couldn’t feel pain. Connor seemed to take enough enjoyment of his caution, in any case, backing against the intruding fingers and tongue. When the android’s breathing edged on quicker than he’d ever heard it, Hank suddenly removed all stimulation, earning a dejected whimper from the brunette. 

 

“Don’t worry, baby,” he reassured Connor softly, running a hand down his back to show he was still there while lining himself up. Hank leaned down for a moment and tenderly kissed the small of Connor’s back where the panel had closed over, inspiring a soft, happy noise from the brunette. Everything they did felt like an overflowing sink of passion and lust, but this action in particular felt like it brought them even closer with the amount of trust and love it exuded. “Ready?” Hank asked, his voice hardly above a whisper as he tore open a condom and slid it over his cock.

 

“Please,” Connor uttered desperately, coming apart at the seams with pale blue coloring his shoulders and up his gorgeous neck, indigo hickeys and all. That was all the encouragement the lieutenant needed before slowly pressing the blunt head of his cock inside of the android, bottoming out with a groan, “ _ Fuck _ , Connor.”

 

It was Hank’s turn to breathe heavily, trying to calm himself with the almost too-tight sensation of the android’s ass around his cock. He’d never felt anything like it. To steady himself and the android, he pressed a hand onto the panel of Connor’s back and slipping his thumb into the wiring when it yielded. “Hank…” Connor murmured softly, his elbows buckling and sending him face-first into the sheets. 

 

“It’s all right, baby. Tell me if it’s too much. Please.” Hank plead, he didn’t want to hurt or overload the android in anyway. Especially since he didn’t know if he could help Connor if anything did happen. He loved Connor. Every stupid part of him down to his lilting voice and doe-like eyes and it drove him insane. After allowing himself to adjust to the tight heat of the brunette’s body, Hank began thrusting into Connor with a steady rhythm and gently working the wires to do their magic to provide the android with two different kinds of stimulation.

 

“I...will,” Connor choked out between moans, moving his face to rest his cheek against the sheets. Noticing this but desiring the android be closer, Hank slipped his free hand under Connor’s shoulder and pulled him up so that his chest was against a freckled back. The hand in the wires shifted to Connor’s hip and the remaining hand reached in front to stroke his already rock-hard cock as Hank’s mouth sucked on a spot just below the brunette’s ear. Connor breathed heavily, his left hand wrapping around Hank’s where it stroked him, both to control it and to increase the amount of contact his body had with his lover’s, while his right reached behind his shoulder to tangle in damp gray hair. Not to pull or tug, but once more to connect them at every point possible and brand this feeling, no longer a series of zeros and ones and brackets, into his hardcode for the rest of his life as Hank thrust into him with increasing intensity and speed.

 

After a couple minutes of intermingling groans of pleasure, the android halted the hand on his cock: “Wait, Hank,” Connor panted, trying to turn his head to look over his shoulder at Hank. “I want to see you.”

 

“But I’m not gonna be able to do whatever this is…” Hank countered, referring to the wiring in the small of Connor’s back and emphasizing his point by slipping a hand between their bodies and generating a small short-circuit to yield a gasp of pleasure from the android.

 

“That doesn’t concern me. I’ve made modifications to allow my own orgasm without manipulating my electrical hardware.” He replied, almost too composed. “You probably already suspected as much.”

 

Fuck, the android really was perfect in his sentimentality. Hank couldn’t reject a request like that. He wanted Connor to enjoy himself first and foremost, but if the brunette was determined to watch him, he would be happy to oblige since it meant he’d also get to see more of that beautiful face. Pulling out of the body before him, Connor took the initiative to slide himself up onto the pillows once more as Hank positioned himself over the brunette whose eyes, filled with endless adoration and affection Hank finally felt like he might deserve, bore into his. “You good?” He asked, its casualness almost comical in manner. Connor merely nodded, taking Hank’s cock and positioning it at his entrance and waiting for the other to take the lead once more.

 

Sinking into the android for the second time almost felt better than the first and Hank pinned his hands on either side of Connor’s head in the pillows, not allowing himself any time to adjust before thrusting once more. When his eyes had fallen shut and groans tumbled from his lips mindlessly, Connor’s hands reached up to cup his face. He let out a brief laugh and kept thrusting, eyebrows knit together and eyes still not making contact. 

 

“Look at me, Hank,” came the soft voice, eerily collected until it was punctuated with a whimper. Hank opened his eyes to find transparent tears once more rolling over Connor’s cheeks, his lips curved up gingerly. Ice blue eyes wide, the detective was surprised to find the android crying, especially with his LED indicating caution. “Are you?”

 

“I’m okay,” Connor laughed, hiccuping and closing his eyes with a smile before he leaned up and sealed their lips fervidly. When Hank’s thrusting began to slow in his shock, the brunette pushed himself back up against the other’s cock to inspire a faster pace that Hank was only too happy to oblige once he regained his wits about him. The detective pressed back into the kiss deeper, opening his mouth for their tongues to crash against one another as his thrusts regained their initial intensity. Distracted by the sheer pleasure of the daylights being fucked out of him, Connor lost the focus to kiss back, instead letting his face fall to the side and leaving Hank to kiss his cheek and jaw tenderly before angling himself in a way that would tear a pleasured yell from the android’s vocal chords. 

 

Quirking his eyebrow and smirking, Hank kept hitting that spot and focused on willing himself to last through Connor’s second orgasm, slipping a hand down onto the android’s cock to stroke him off as quickly as he drove into him. With only a couple more thrusts, Connor was clinging onto Hank’s body and cumming with a sob, his head thrown back against the pillows in a beautiful display of pleasure without abandon. Finally allowing himself the respite of release, Hank came as he stared down at Connor’s flawless face, groaning the android’s name as he finished.

  
Both panting so laboriously that their breaths mixed and lost their owners, Hank reluctantly pulled out of Connor and flopped over beside him, simultaneously relieved at the opportunity to just lie down as well as peel off the used condom and toss it in the garbage next to the bed. He wasn’t that old, but he was old enough to be tired as fuck after sex and ready to sleep for three days. Beside him, Connor was still on his back with his breath coming out in hot pants and laughed to himself.

 

“What?” Hank asked, his tone verging on aggressive though it was in jest.

 

“I...don’t know how humans even operate knowing they can experience that much pleasure at any time,” Connor chuckled, turning his head so he could look Hank in the eye while his LED spun a docile cerulean. 

 

“Anytime is a little generous. Some of us need a couple hours to recover. And a beer,” laughed Hank in response, opening his arm out for the android to slide under it. Connor happily obliged, scooting closer and resting his head against Hank’s thick shoulder. 

 

“I’m still capable of more.”

 

“Well, ain’t that peachy,” Hank grumbled, not sure what the android was trying to imply.

 

“I may be of further service to you if not the other way around, as it were,” the brunette corrected, kissing Hank’s cheek. 

 

“Oh.” Hank replied dumbly, blinking a couple times. “God, androids really do never rest, huh? This is why I’ll be good for you. Probably the only way, anyhow.”

 

“Nonsense. I never would’ve become a deviant if I wasn’t by your side. Your influence has been paramount to my human experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Everything you are  _ makes you good _ ,” Connor grinned, referring once more to their first conversation when Connor was falling apart at the seams with anxiety.

 

“Maybe I’ll believe that one day,” Hank said, optimism surprisingly apparent.

 

“I’ll make sure you do,” replied Connor as he nuzzled his face into Hank’s neck.

 

“Good luck with that, asshat,” he replied gruffly, ending just the way they began. Insults and gruff tones, but love and adoration always under the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this! I think it’ll be the last chapter, though I did get an idea from tumblr that might extend it, if you guys are interested. This also feels like the rawest sex scene I’ve ever written somehow, and I have no idea what it is about this. I’ve written a dozen or so pieces of smut and not one of them has the sheer sexuality this one seems to have. I hope that’s a good thing. I really tried not to shy away from that feeling when I wrote it, haha. And I totally didn’t tear up when I wrote it…
> 
> Anyways, let me know what you thought and if you’d like to see this continue with MORE angst and MORE android sex because I’m considering another chapter or three.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A loud gasp and doe eyes flew open, Connor’s LED flickered yellow and then eventually blue as he looked around in stunned surprise at Markus and Hank. Markus leaned back and raised a brow at Hank expectantly despite knowing he wouldn’t receive a thanks so soon when the man was so focused on his lover regaining consciousness. He stepped aside smoothly, then leaned against the side of Hank’s car to allow them to complete their reunion. 
> 
> “This has been happening to our people quite a lot lately. We’ve begun experiencing pain as our deviancy develops and adapts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked, and so it shall continue!

“Ow!” 

 

Hank looked up from his spot on the couch, nose in a magazine regarding Markus’ revolution and the advances androids were steadily making in attaining their freedom, his face contorted in confusion. He’d never heard the android make a noise of the sort and slowly got up, making his way towards the kitchen. 

 

“Did you just ‘ow,’ Connor? The fuck?”

 

“Indeed,” Connor responded, his body now turning toward Hank’s figure in the threshold of the kitchen, holding his wrist upwards toward his face. The android was assessing his hand rather peculiarly, brows furrowed. “I am not sure why. I do not think it’s of consequence.”

 

Hank knew that Connor was probably trying to change the subject instead of face it, but he’d let it go for now.

 

“Can I at least help this time?” The detective asked, padding through the kitchen in socks and cringing when his toe hit a wet spot in the floor from where Sumo drank and his jowls dripped. Wet socks and all, Hank crept up behind the brunette to wrap his arms around his waist and plant a kiss on his jaw. 

 

“Perhaps,” came the reply, head tilting up and away to allow further access to his neck as well as cast umber eyes on his lover. “You may begin by continuing that,” Connor added playfully, a smile curving his lips.

 

“Yeah, cute, but actual food is still the end goal here.” Hank chuckled, unwinding himself from the android’s waist and letting his hand linger in the small of Connor’s back and provoking a shiver. “You wear me the fuck out, Connor.”

 

The android shrugged casually, going back to sauteing onions in traces of red wine. “Hence the cooking,” he replied softly. Hank recognized his tone to be both affectionate and sensuous, some double meaning playing beneath the comment. “It’s almost done, anyhow.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Hank was seated at the table with French onion soup in front of him. He wasn’t sure how the android managed to create things this fancy with the shit he didn’t even know he had stashed in his pantry, but Hank wasn’t complaining. Before digging in, the detective observed Connor’s eyes flitting as they usually did when he received any incoming information.

 

Connor frowned, “A case just came in.”

 

“It can wait.” Hank huffed, spoon in hand and already digging into the soup before Connor interrupted his attempt to eat mid-bite.

 

“It cannot, as such.” Connor corrected, rifling through the cupboards for something Hank didn’t think would be relevant until the android turned around. “Here,” the brunette began, taking the bowl without so much as a thought to whether Hank wanted to take a bite or not before having it stolen away for a fucking case. “Though unconventional, I believe this may be the most efficient method of consumption given our situation,” said as the android carefully maneuvered the soup into a travel mug. 

 

Hank’s face screwed up, but his answer was as close to an approval as Connor would get when he swiped food from the starving detective: “That’s disgusting. I’ll do it.”

 

~

 

As Connor drove, he explained the known facts of the scene thus far. A human instigated an android to attack outside of a convenience store, causing the human to procure a knife and stab the android nonfatally. In normal circumstances, only a fine would be in place for such offenses, but now that androids had been designated persons an arrest would have to be made. Meanwhile, Hank had snapped off the lid to the mug and initially tried spooning his dinner in his mouth, despite the bumps of the road. Eventually giving up, he decided to drink it like coffee. Just chunkier. Fuck, it was unnerving. But at least Connor was a great damn cook.

 

Once they arrived to the scene, officers had pacified both android and human, each sitting in a pair of handcuffs twenty feet apart and giving their statement to officers. Connor angled his head toward the human for Hank, who nodded in a way that suggested he was thinking the same. Alternatively, the brunette headed for the android victim and bent down in front of him.

 

“Hello, my name is Connor. Are you all right? What appears to have happened?”

 

“It’s you,” the android said with amazement coloring his tone, eyes mirroring the same emotion as he looked up at Connor from the pavement as if he was glowing.

 

“I...I apologize, what do you mean?”

 

“You freed me from the CyberLife Tower several weeks ago.”

 

“Oh,” Connor responded shyly, his brows drawing together and small smile appearing on his lips sheepishly. “I’m sorry you’ve ended up here in this situation. What’s your name?”

 

“Adam.”

 

“All right, Adam, what can I do to help you tell me what happened?”

 

“Not a thing. I have nothing to hide. That man came up to me as I was walking past the 7-11 and kept calling me names like skinjob, iRobot, and other demeaning things. I was prepared to simply ignore him until he threw an unopened can at me and it damaged some of my biocomponents. While checking for any further damages, he came up and brandished a knife,” the android described, glancing over at the human down the sidewalk. “I raised my hand in defense, he stabbed me, and then I pushed him off and tried to knock him out. I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted to leave. We’re not making enough progress for me to be able to just...fight back and not be deactivated.”

 

“You have rights, Adam. They cannot simply deactivate you. You’re a person.”

 

“That’s what you hope,” he responded morosely, falling silent.

 

“Look, Adam, we’ll see what we can do. I’ll talk with my partner.”

 

“Sure, Connor.”

 

With a nod, the android met his partner halfway between the two complainants. “What’d the human say?”

 

“That the android attacked him, of course. Boys say the footage shows the opposite, obviously. I’ll only pretend this isn’t another hate crime for so long.”

 

“I’ll talk to the human then,” Connor concluded, turning to walk toward the other suspect when he felt a hand wrap around his bicep and pull him back gently.

 

“I don’t think that’s a great idea, Connor.”

 

“Nonsense,” the android responded, lifting his opposite hand to settle on top of Hank’s with a smile. God, Connor might be deviant, intelligent, and ever-learning, but he was still naive as all hell. The detective sighed and shook his head, slowly following his lover’s footsteps. 

 

“Oh hey, tin can,” addressed the human with a sickly sweet tone, his eyes and bared teeth aggressive and contrasting his voice. 

 

“Think you can tell me what really happened, sir?”

 

“One of you things attacked me when I was just trying to get some fucking Pringles. End of story. I defended myself.”

 

“Footage says otherwise, Mr…” Connor drawled, waiting for the complainant to finish his sentence.

 

“Mr. Fuck You, skinner.”

 

“His name’s Josh, Connor. Stop talking to him, he’s useless. We already know he’s the one who tossed the android. Let’s go,” Hank rolled his eyes at the kid on the sidewalk, intuitively wrapping an arm around the android’s shoulder to guide him away.

 

“Aw, sweet for the robot, huh? He’s pretty,” Josh called, causing Hank to drop his arm instantly and then stop walking. Connor looked up just barely to see the other male’s face, the coldness in his eyes. It’d never been apparent in public to anyone that they were seeing one another. Not to the other cops, not the detectives, and not to suspects. Hank knew he’d carelessly slipped up, unintentionally being affectionate. Connor could see the detective contemplating his reaction, then cooling down and beginning to walk again. This time not touching Connor and making the android frown slightly. 

 

“Pretty fucking fake. You know those things aren’t really alive? It’s fake.” When Hank stopped once more, his shoulders raising with a deep inhale, Connor quickly stepped in front of his lover and shook his head, grabbing his shoulder tightly and pressing into the muscle in a way that almost pinched Hank. 

 

“Don’t. This doesn’t affect me.”

 

“It affects me, Connor.”

 

“It doesn’t love you. It can’t love,” the human laughed caustically. Connor swore he could hear the sound of Hank snapping as he flipped around and yanked himself out of the android’s grip, advancing on the little shit that dared say anything like that about Connor. Quickly, Connor recognized an uncharacteristic glint and scanned Josh instantaneously, finding that the man had somehow uncuffed himself and was about to bring a knife up and attack Hank.

 

In a split second, Connor dove around Hank and blocked the attack with his forearm, tackling the human to the ground and using his opposite elbow to knock Josh unconscious. Hank stumbled back, mortified. The brunette was panting laboriously, the pattern of it stunted and strange. Not normal. Another officer came running over, cuffing Josh’s wrists once more and hoisting him up with another cop to drag him into a police car. 

 

When Connor turned around, his eyes looked glassy and panicked as he fastened a hand over where the human had sliced him. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Hank’s, but he also didn’t speak a word. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Hank asked, advancing and taking the hand that covered the brunette’s forearm and peeling it off, recognizing the blue of thirium but still not quite understanding what was happening until Connor hissed in pain and tensed up under Hank’s touch, stumbling back and then down on a knee.

 

“Hank,” he breathed, fingers tightening even more over the wound through his suit with his LED spinning vermillion. “Hank, I don’t know what’s happening.”

 

Quickly, Hank followed the android to the ground, his hands resting on Connor’s shoulders and trying to meet deep brown eyes that kept drifting down and out of focus. “Connor, look at me, tell me what’s wrong.”

 

“I don’t know. I can’t move. It’s like my servers are overloading. I cannot process any movements other than speech.” Connor panted out, eyes darting about and then stilling in realization when he’d focused enough of his processing on calming down to the point where his LED had reverted to yellow. “It hurts. It hurts, Hank.”

 

“What the fuck do you mean it  _ hurts _ ?” The detective asked in panic, one hand moving from the android’s shoulder to his cheek. Connor began to shake and then mahogany finally met icy eyes. 

 

“I’m in pain.”

 

Hank was almost pissed off at how factual Connor made it sound. The brunette’s lips parted as if to say something more when his LED returned to red and then he watched the android’s eyes go blank and lose their animation and emotion. Eyes wide, Hank tried to lift Connor’s face and gently tap him awake. 

 

“No. No, Connor. You don’t get to fucking shut down. Wake the  _ fuck _ up,” Hank growled, callous hands gripping the android’s shoulders tightly. Letting out a shuddering breath, Hank tipped his head back and pulled the limp brunette against his chest, unable to move from that position in panic and agony.

 

~

 

“Shit, shit, shit. Fuck,” Hank hissed, throwing apart his house trying to find the information on Markus that he’d kept just in case something unreasonable like this happened. Sumo whined in the background, hopping up to look out the window sill at Connor sitting unconscious in the car.

 

“Finally!” He almost shouted in relief, finding a crumpled scrap of paper with an address on it. Hank ran out the door, hopping into the car and driving impossibly fast to the place wadded in a ball in his palm.

 

~

 

“Hank Anderson. I didn’t think I would see you here so soon after the revolution,” Markus commented interestedly, brow furrowed as heterochromatic eyes bore into his own. 

 

“Me fucking either. Less talking, I’ve got a dying android,” Hank groused, turning his back and waving Markus to follow him.

 

“Lead the way,” Markus cut to business and followed the human back to his car. Hank then opened the door, his heart threatening to beat so hard it’d pop out of its place in his chest and hop up his throat. 

 

After a couple seconds of observation and probably some scanning or whatever the fuck androids did to diagnose each other, Markus’ lips actually curved ever so slightly. 

 

“The fuck’s so funny, Markus?”

 

“He’ll be fine,” the android responded casually as the small smile disappeared as quickly as it came; he reached to press a finger against the solid red LED for a couple of moments until it spun. 

 

“Oh, good. Glad I called IT to fucking show me that all I needed to do was turn it off, turn it back on again. So glad I didn’t pay upfront for—”

 

A loud gasp and doe eyes flew open, Connor’s LED flickered yellow and then eventually blue as he looked around in stunned surprise at Markus and Hank. Markus leaned back and raised a brow at Hank expectantly despite knowing he wouldn’t receive a thanks so soon when the man was so focused on his lover regaining consciousness. He stepped aside smoothly, then leaned against the side of Hank’s car to allow them to complete their reunion. 

 

“This has been happening to our people quite a lot lately. We’ve begun experiencing pain as our deviancy develops and adapts.”

 

“Lieutenant, I’m so sorry,” Connor balked, shooting up from the passenger seat and grabbing onto Hank’s lapels before pulling him into a tight hug. “I didn’t mean to shut down, I just. I overloaded.”

 

“Slow down, you’re fine. You’re here,” Hank replied, thoughts and voice still far away though he embraced the brunette back. How many times could he come so close to losing this android? Would it always be like this? The detective pulled away, then nudged the elbow that was injured in the assault to take a look at it. Since rebooting, the wound had disappeared like it always did. “Does it still hurt?”

 

“No.”

 

“Like I said, it’s normal now for androids to feel pain.”

 

“Doesn’t seem very fucking normal when we’ve had androids for decades and they’ve never felt pain before.”

 

“They also weren’t deviant. But now they are,” Markus corrected, tilting his head as if to emphasize his point. “It appears to be some evolutionary adaptation. Or our programming’s effort to conform us to what we expect humans to be like in order to better assimilate.” 

 

“Your dumbass burnt yourself in the kitchen and felt pain, didn’t you? That’s what that was. Why didn’t you just say that, Connor?” Hank asked, more worriedly than accusingly.

 

“I...thought I misprocessed stimuli. It’s never happened before. My hardcode considered it to be eerily similar to pleasure. It felt...sharp instead of soft, however,” Connor muttered, his eyes cast down in thought. 

 

“You scared the shit out of me, Connor.”

 

“It appears I do that a lot,” the brunette chuckled warmly, his countenance sympathetic. “Markus, thank you. I apologize for bothering you at this hour.”

 

“We don’t sleep, so it’s not a problem. You may need to expose yourself to the stimuli more often so you don’t shut down each time. That, or you can reprogram your neural synapses to not process pain. It’s your choice whether or not you want to feel like this.”

 

Connor blinked curiously at Markus’ statement. “You mean I chose this?”

 

“You did somehow,” the other android shrugged, pushing himself off the car and walking out in front of the two with his arms crossed over his chest. “It was likely a result of being in such close quarters with a human,” Markus explained, his eyes flickering to Hank briefly. “Your hardcode likely wanted to appear more familiar to him.”

 

“Ain’t that cute, Connor,” Hank drawled, arching his brows and throwing the brunette a teasing smile.

 

“It wasn’t on purpose, lieutenant!” Connor fired back defensively, lips pressed into a tight line.

 

“Is there anything else you two need? I’ve been helping Josh draft legislation and if I’m not back soon, I’m certain North will add some overly aggressive demands under otherwise reasonable clauses.”

 

“Nope. Thanks, Markus. Good luck on everything. And let us know if you need anything from the police, all right? I owe ya.”

 

Markus nodded officially, turning on his heel and heading back into the office building he inhabited with the other androids from the revolution as Connor looked over to Hank, still awestruck and trying to make sense of it all.

 

“Let’s go, you’ve caused me enough stress tonight,” Hank flashed a joking grin, waving his hand for the android to hop back in so they could go home.

 

“I’m sorry again, Hank,” Connor murmured as he sat down and clicked his seatbelt. 

 

“Don’t be sorry. You might kill me one of these days.”

 

“I would never consider such a thing,” the android responded incredulously, doe eyes horrified.

 

“Dumbass, not like that. Give me a heart attack or some shit.”

 

“Come here,” Hank grumbled, pulling Connor by his CyberLife jacket and resenting that the android still wore it. Still, that wouldn’t stop him from slamming their lips together in a bruising kiss, resulting in a gasp from the brunette. 

 

“And quit jumping in front of shit to save my life. I’ve lived long enough and I have enough reason to preserve my life now, all right?”

 

Connor’s eyes softened at this and his LED ceased its uneasy processing. He realized that Hank had just told him that he was the reason the detective wanted to live. To save himself. The fact Hank had drank considerably less and allowed the android to cook more often for him served to emphasize the point. In that moment, Connor was even more certain that no matter what, he would endure any pain and any injury to make sure Hank was alive to keep saying those things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if anyone’s catching these Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream references in Ch 1 and Ch 6 lol. Gimme a shout if you are, I wanna know you guys are out here. Obviously this chapter is exposition more than anything, but fun stuff will certainly be coming.
> 
> I'm also gonna be putting out a Simon/Markus connection-sex fic here in a couple days, if y'all are into that. ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Will you do it again?” Asked the android softly, causing Hank to turn his head just slightly to see the look on Connor’s face.
> 
> “Pinch your ass?”
> 
> “Anything. But yes, that too, as such.”
> 
> “It’s late, Connor…” Hank attempted an excuse, though meek and certainly contrasting with his desires and the growing hardness between his legs at the kid asking for pain mixed into pleasure. Fuck, if it wasn’t hot as hell and Hank surely thought he was past this phase in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is literally all porn lmao. Hank #GetsSome and Connor is positively insatiable.

“I’m weak, Hank,” Connor mused, pinching himself in the soft flesh under his arm. “I feel emotions and pain. I’m hardly of use as an android that was designed to assist in police investigations.”

 

The brunette android sat on the couch, his legs criss-crossed and wearing one of Hank’s old DPD shirts and a pair of briefs that finally fit him. Or maybe were even a little small. Hank hadn’t worn that junk in ages, but all he knew was that Connor’s figure looked a little too good in them.

 

“Jeez, kid.” Hank caught himself calling the kid a, well, kid again. Maybe he couldn’t shake that as easily as he thought. Whatever, there was enough to worry about. “It doesn’t make you useless.”

 

Connor looked over at Hank, perturbed and frowning.

 

“Do you think I’m useless?” Hank asked quizzically, which immediately invoked a reaction from Connor, as he stood up and crossed the room, his hands on both of Hank’s shoulders roughly.

 

“I would never! You are incredibly valuable,” Connor responded tersely, his deep brown eyes hard as carnelian.

 

“Then why would you say the same thing about yourself? I feel pain and emotion just like you, Connor.”

 

“Oh,” replied the brunette dumbly, his eyes softening and lips parted in question. He’d been effectively caught. “I apologize, Hank.”

 

“Don’t apologize to me,” he shrugged casually, walking over and placing a kiss against the android’s forehead. “Be better to yourself, all right?” Hank added, walking away and taking a risk to pinch the android’s ass playfully as he passed.

 

With a yelp in response and dark blue blush rising to his cheeks, Connor glared at the detective half-heartedly, only prompting an eyebrow quirk and crooked smirk in return.

 

“Never heard you sound like _that_ before, Connor,” remarked Hank with an interested lowness to his drawl.

 

“I’ve never felt pain before, lieutenant.” Connor was attempting to pass off the reaction as a side effect, but it was a watery defense at best.

 

“That didn’t sound exactly like a cry of agony, kid,” he chuckled, turning his back and heading towards the hall leading to their bedroom.

 

Connor paused for a couple of seconds, contemplating, and then walked after Hank. When the man was about to push down the handle to the bedroom and pull it open, Connor put his hand up against the door, keeping it shut. “You were right. It...wasn’t,” he stated thoughtfully, a lowness to his voice that would’ve made Hank shudder were he a weaker man.

 

“Huh,” Hank responded pensively, still not turning nor meeting the brunette’s eyes. He’d let Connor come to him.

 

“Will you do it again?” Asked the android softly, causing Hank to turn his head just slightly to see the look on Connor’s face.

 

“Pinch your ass?”

 

“Anything. But yes, that too, as such.”

 

“It’s late, Connor…” Hank attempted an excuse, though meek and certainly contrasting with his desires and the growing hardness between his legs at the kid asking for pain mixed into pleasure. Fuck, if it wasn’t hot as hell and Hank surely thought he was past this phase in his life.

 

“Lieutenant,” came Connor’s voice, almost low in warning and desperately wanton in a way that made Hank’s dick twitch. With a long sigh, Hank turned himself around against the doorframe and leaned against it, looking eye-to-eye with the brunette whose pupils were blown wide.

 

“Let me get into the bedroom and we’ll see what we can do,” Hank’s request was tinged with faux-irritation.

 

Connor let his arm drop from the door, eyes still boring into Hank’s as the man slowly turned a shoulder and let them in. Almost as soon as he took a step into the room, Connor was already pushing him down onto the bed with his body, making sure keep the human upright until he was sat on the bed. The brunette then crawled onto his lap, immediately acknowledging the Hank’s hardening cock beneath the tight, thin material of Connor’s briefs by grinding down on it with a choked moan.

 

“Fuck, what’s gotten into you,” Hank groaned, leaning his head back for a moment and closing his eyes as his hands shot to the brunette’s hips, gripping them tightly. This only served to urge Connor further the tighter he held.

 

“I need you,” Connor whined, angling himself higher so as to lean down and kiss Hank, who immediately turned his head to offer them better access to one another’s mouths with tongues tangling. Ever happy to play the part for the gorgeous android in his lap, one hand creeped up from Connor’s slim hip to card through his hair, earning a soft noise from the brunette’s throat. His hand began gentle, but as Connor’s enthusiasm rose, Hank gently pulled the android’s hair both to distract and give himself the upper hand.

 

“More,” Connor breathed hotly, his eyes drifted shut in bliss. Fuck, it was the perfect image of ecstasy and beauty. Hank could still hardly believe this was his life. Some young android thing in love with him begging for more and seemingly never having enough of him. It was enough to flatter any old man, let alone Hank. And so he obeyed, feeling more at Connor’s mercy than the other way around, pulling more roughly at the head of soft carob hair and earning a throaty moan. Once more, Connor’s hips began to shift and slot against Hank’s in their desire to attain friction and additional pleasure.

 

In punishment as much as reward, Hank’s other hand slid from Connor’s hip to his ass, once more pinching the soft, synthetic skin and feeling the android jerk against his body. “Fuck, you’re responsive tonight.”

 

Connor didn’t answer, just pushing himself back against the detective’s punishing hand and pressing his face into the neck before him, slipping out a hot pink tongue to lick and mouth Hank’s neck. A low grumble rose in Hank’s throat at the action, running his nails along the soft curve of Connor’s lower back. “Hold up, kid, I’ve got an idea you might like.”

 

Sitting back with his lips shining from the saliva he’d used to slick Hank’s neck, Connor looked at the detective expectantly with eyes that were simultaneously bright and innocent, but dark and lusty in their depth. Hank motioned for the android to slip off of him and then on the bed.

 

“On all fours, all right? Tell me to stop,” he grunted, calloused hands caressing Connor sweetly after he got into position but before landing a blow against the tantalizingly perfect cheeks in front of him. When Connor hiccupped a moan, Hank blinked in surprise. Connor the hair-pulling android liked a bit of pain. God, he should’ve seen this coming from a mile away. The detective’s hand froze against his ass, unmoving until Connor pressed back against his palm expectantly. Snapping out of his thoughts, he retracted his hand to send another smack against the android’s ass, harder this time. The android’s elbows buckled as he mewled at the sensation, pressing his knees and thighs together where his cock was beginning to jut towards his stomach.

 

Connor sounded positively wrecked, human and synthetic android voices mingling and echoing lowly, “Hank, please,” he begged, planting his forehead against the sheets with his knees quivering. Blue began to rise to the android’s abused thighs and Hank was surprised by how gorgeous he found the coloring. He passed the pads of his fingers gently over the forming bruises, admiring them.

 

“Fuck, Connor…” He marveled, almost unable to reel his hand back once more until he saw the android shudder before him and then turn his head, biting his lip sweetly. “God, kid. You’re too much,” Hank groaned, pulling his hand back and landing it against one of the darker marks he’d already made and repeating the motion several times over as Connor melted into the sheets, hardly able to keep his knees steady. On one particularly hard spank, a broken sob fell from the brunette’s lips and he came inside his briefs, knees buckling and softly rutting against the bed as he rode out his orgasm.

 

With his face still against the sheets, Connor forced out his next request: “I need you inside of me. I want you to fuck me.”

 

Blunt as the butt of a gun, Connor was asking to be fucked in that wrecked, half-android half-human voice that dripped ever lower. Shaking his head, Hank could do naught but obey and reach into the bedside drawer for a condom and lube, throwing it against the bed next to the android’s shuddering form as he leaned off the bed and shed his shirt, pajama pants, and boxers.

 

Hearing the shuffle of clothes, the android flipped his body over and shoved his hand down the front of his tight briefs, looking up at Hank with doe eyes half-lidded as he pleasured himself. Shaking his head, Hank chuckled and got on the bed, straddling the gorgeous android beneath him and kissing down a pale neck, sucking dark marks into it and biting at them once they’d sprung purple and blue. Connor whimpered, hand still stroking himself at a wildly quick pace that sometimes brushed Hank’s cock and made him shiver. The android had never been so fast to arouse or even come back from a refractory period, the stimulation of pain and pleasure becoming quickly addictive to him.

 

One hand in the brunette’s hair once more, pulling whenever his lips attached to a smooth neck, Connor began rocking his hips up desperately into his hand and against Hank’s rock hard cock, ripping a stunned whisper of curses from him. The android continued to mewl and moan beneath him, writhing in pleasure almost erratically enough for Hank to take the hand from the kid’s hair and steady it against his jaw and neck. From the force of his writhing and when he pressed his face and head up against the sheets, Connor’s normally perfectly groomed hair had come loose and splayed gorgeously across his forehead and the bed below him.

 

When Hank reached a hand behind Connor and squeezed his ass at the same time he delivered a particularly brutal bite to the android’s shoulder, Connor came yet again with a shout, the diluted thirium-like substance staining the white briefs he wore with an even larger splotch.

 

This time, Connor took more than a couple of seconds to be rearing once again, pushing his boxers down and panting hot air desperately, looking up into Hank’s eyes desperately: “It’s not enough. Hank, please,” whispered the android, the hand that once grasped the sheets desperately now gently winding in Hank’s silvered hair. Pleading, begging, and demanding in the same breath, same pair of gorgeous eyes and pretty pink lips. He reached over to where the condom and lube sat, pushing both items away clumsily as he leaned up to capture the detective’s lips.

 

Hank, however, pulled back sooner than expected and elicited a disappointed sound from the brunette: “I’m not fucking you without a condom, Connor,” Hank hissed, determined to look out for the android’s best interest even if he didn’t think of it himself. He wasn’t about to fuck up the brunette’s insides without some protection just in case anything went wrong.

 

“No, Hank,” Connor breathed out, knocking the lube off the bed and onto the floor and trying to paw the condom closer. Hank’s brows still furrowed at the prospect of not using lube.

 

“You sure?”

 

“Never more certain,” came the humorless laugh and Hank once more felt the jut of Connor’s cock against him. “Androids produce their own lubricant. It’s redundant.”

 

“All right, turn around again, babe,” demanded Hank gruffly, smacking the android’s bare hips to urge him to flip over on his knees once more. Connor did just that and more, scooting himself back up against the cock behind him as Hank rolled the condom on carefully.

 

“Hank,” breathed Connor, feeling the man’s hand against the paneling in the small of his back, even while wearing the oversized DPD shirt. Hank couldn’t imagine a hotter night in bed, or anywhere for that matter, as he lined up with Connor’s entrance and pressed the tip in cautiously.

 

Connor’s body tensed beneath him, prompting Hank to slow down and earning what seemed to be an impatient growl from the android as he pushed back against the pressure wantonly. If that was how Connor wanted it, Hank would be happy to oblige, ever the servant to his lover’s whims. Bottoming out sans hesitation earned a throaty groan from the brunette, who arched his back and pushed himself back against the other’s cock.

 

After gaining a steady rhythm, Connor seemed to be unable to keep up trying to control his own pleasure, allowing himself to be fucked with strong hands controlling the direction of his hips. “Hank, please pull my hair,” he asked softly between pleasured sighs. One hand strayed from its post on a lithe hip to apprehensively rest in Connor’s hair, caressing it first.

 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to actually hurt you, Connor. Or overload you,” mused Hank in question, slowing his thrusts ever so slightly to confirm with the android.

 

“I’ll tell you if it’s too much, Hank. I promise,” assured Connor saccharinely as he lifted his chin to look at Hank over his shoulder.

 

“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” Hank grunted, finding his rhythm once again and initially pulling only half the strength needed to force Connor’s neck to bend. Once he was rewarded with the android’s renewed ardor and a symphony of moans and sighs, the lieutenant tightened his grip and pulled Connor up ever so slightly. Somehow finding the focus within him once more, Connor thrust himself back against Hank with a wanton noise. Eventually, the speed in which the android pistoned himself on Hank’s cock bested the rhythm he’d set for them.  
  
“Fuck, kid, you’re wearing me out,” panted Hank as he pulled out of the android, somehow having willed himself to last this long.

 

“Then allow me. My research indicates this position will be pleasurable for both of us,” Connor suggested as he turned around and crawled over the detective’s heaving body, lining Hank’s cock up with his entrance and sinking down upon it with a choked moan and head thrown back.

 

“Connor, you’re fucking gorgeous, you know that?” Hank cooed, bucking his hips up into Connor when able. Gliding his hands to the android’s hips, Hank reached one hand around to fiddle with the android’s circuitry, praying that this last orgasm would be enough to satisfy the android, whatever the fuck had gotten into him. He couldn’t complain too much, but it was pretty remarkable. Even as a teen, Hank couldn’t compete with the brunette’s libido.

 

Hank watched as Connor’s engorged, indigo cock bobbed against his stomach as he bounced against the detective’s cock, the both of them nearing orgasm. Panting and throwing his head back, Hank tried to focus on anything but how unbelievably captivating the android was, his chest and cheeks colored with a beautiful azure blush with his hair pinned to his forehead and enticingly out of place magnified by his wrecked, android-human moans.

 

Feeling Connor’s body tighten around him, Hank immediately pressed a hand into the small of Connor’s back to fiddle with the wiring, unplugging them on one thrust and then reconnecting them after holding them teasingly close to their sockets and creating a powerful shock that resonated through the android’s entire system as he trembled, trying desperately to ride out his orgasm and coaxing Hank’s in the same measure.

 

Thirium-tinted lubricant just barely beaded at the head of the android’s cock in his last orgasm, unable to milk anymore fluid from his system as his overworked processors attempted to cool him down and expel hot air. Something about the way Connor breathed always filled Hank with warmth. It was so unabashedly human and Connor didn’t even seem to know. It was as if he had no idea how purely human he was, despite all the time he pretended he wasn’t. That scene on the roof was the last straw and the android finally admitted that he felt instead of pushing it all down, and ever since he’d been a waterfall of gushing emotion and love. There was something so...wholesome and natural about it that Hank felt terrified he might taint it. And yet, in the same stroke, he felt like this was how he belonged. The paradox and juxtaposition of their relationship seemed to be exactly why they flourished, and few others would be so lucky in their differences to meld so perfectly.

 

Fatigued, Connor allowed Hank’s cock to slip out of his body before carelessly flopping to the side. Fuck, the kid got more human by the minute. It was the cutest thing in the world. He nuzzled up to the side of Hank’s shoulder, scarred from surgeries and past brutish battles in the force and certainly out of it.

 

“I love you, Hank. Thank you for letting me experience this.”

 

Hank’s brows furrowed at the sudden change in mood from the android but his lips curved into a smile. The kid was unexpected and odd, but incredibly endearing. He couldn’t get enough either.

 

“I love you too.”

 

After a couple moments spent catching his breath and staring at the ceiling, the lieutenant dropped his head to the side and looked at Connor, whose eyes shut peacefully while trying to recuperate. “I’d do anything for you, Connor. I know it sounds stupid, and I hate saying shit like this because it sounds like a bad rom com, but I would.”

 

At this, Connor’s lids flickered open to reveal deep brown eyes full of devotion and sheer fondness and the delicate curve of his lips said the same. He allowed Hank to continue, sensing that this wasn’t the end of what he wanted to tell the android. Connor had gotten more proficient at being able to tell when Hank had something on his mind and needed to just let words tumble from his mouth till he sighed and closed his eyes, and this was one of those times.

 

“When that little fuck on the sidewalk talked about you like that, shit. I felt like I was back in college, drunk at a bar and fighting for my ex-wife. I could almost see red,” he remarked, long having looked away from the brunette in some shade of indignity. “Don’t let anyone like that get into your head, okay? I swear, I…” Hank stopped himself before going too far. He wasn’t that foolhardy boy from college anymore. He couldn’t afford needless fights and time away from home. From Sumo and Connor. “I’m just grateful you stick by me. For all that I am.”

 

“I’ll always be by your side, Hank,” Connor assured him, sealing the promise with a kiss to a grizzled, silver jaw. “So long as I live.”

 

Something about that statement made Hank frown a little, but Connor had closed his eyes once more with his face a serene display of contentment. As long as Connor lived. As soon as Hank would die. Hank aggressively pushed the thought from his mind, wrapping his arms around the brunette and pulling him closer to his chest with hands gripping tightly, as if letting go meant disappearing forever. He’d never been so scared to be a cop in his life now that he had everything to lose all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, sorry. I took a mental-hiatus from this bc I went a little too HAM putting my own experiences into this and brought up some tough stuff from my past with the police lmao. But man, that’s what makes me love this fic so much. I’ve never had so much fun writing something and then showing you guys. This fandom is so unbelievably loving and supportive, no matter what ship I’m posting in.
> 
> Also, I did end up doing that Markus/Simon connection fic, you can find it here: Part 1 | Part 2  
> It turned out surprisingly well. If that’s your cup of tea, check it out. Some of you have remarked on liking how I write Markus, so here’s your chance for another taste. ;)
> 
> Inspiring music:  
> [Avalanche by Walk the Moon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECBhz_1AaSM)  
> [Artificial Feelings by Trevor Something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie8xKVAimA8)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor immediately dropped to his knees and began a diagnosis. 
> 
> “What's wrong with her?”
> 
> Brown eyes widened as they met Hank's in a split-second mistake, “Nothing. Hank, we—”
> 
> Before even hearing Connor's status report, Hank saw the android move unusually, as if to retrieve a weapon from her side. Hank quickly pushed Connor aside, falling forward into the android who he now realized was pulling a gun and unloading it right at her eye-level, firing into Hank's thigh and shattering the bone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So _that's_ what Hank meant.

“Lieutenant, we’ve received another report of android-related activity in the seventh precinct at Belle Isle Park.”

 

“All right, give me like five minutes to guzzle this down since you’ve got me on coffee instead of booze.”

 

“They’re both horrible, but at least coffee contains more health benefits.”

 

“Red wine is good for you!” Claimed Hank indignantly. 

 

“Is beer?” Lilted Connor, one brow raised as his eyes slowly met Hank's in a way that always took the man's breath away. Who programmed these androids to be so damn elegant and beautiful? Was it learned? 

 

“No…” Replied Hank dejectedly as he shook himself from his distracted thoughts. 

 

“Don't worry, lieutenant. I'll wait,” he said, smile soft and voice gentle. Hank had to keep himself from staring for too long. They were still in the office and those kinds of looks gave away more than he was willing to talk about. 

 

Hank leaned back with a smile into his cup, finishing the rest of the motor oil-esque coffee he’d dared brew. Setting the cup down on his desk, he got up with a push from his chair and motioned over his shoulder for Connor to follow. In no time, the android was on his heels. 

 

“I'll drive,” Hank announced, already yanking open the door to the driver's seat and slipping in with a grip on the car's steady frame. Once Connor had joined him on the passenger side, Hank leaned over with a hand extended to caress the android's jaw. He quickly looked around on the blacktop for any emerging cops, then pressed his lips to Connor's passionately. With a smile and nuzzle into the lieutenant's palm, he kissed back enthusiastically and placed a hand on Hank's jacket as if scared he'd pull away if Connor didn't have a hold on him. 

 

Hank chuckled in the kiss at the kid's avidity, the tickle of his beard against Connor's soft skin. When Hank pulled back, Connor's eyes were half-lidded and his voice low: “What prompted that, lieutenant?”

 

Hank shook his head, “Sometimes I hate myself for liking when you call me that,” he muttered. “It was nothing, though. Just you being your normal self.”

 

“I do that all the time.”

 

“I can't kiss you all the time.”

 

“Correction, you choose not to.”

 

Hank leaned in again with a grin, capturing the android's lips once more, who returned the kiss eagerly, before Hank pulled back to bite Connor's lower lip teasingly and breathed lowly, “You're such a little shit, Connor.”

 

“I'm under the impression you enjoy it.”

 

“Your instincts get better by the day,” Hank chided sarcastically, leaning back to finally get them on their way. 

 

After a short drive to the park not so far from HQ, Hank and Connor pulled up to five other cop cars gathered at the park's entrance. As always, the two suspects were already separated and other responding officers were interviewing witnesses nearby. 

 

As they got out of their car and surveyed the scene, Connor piped up: “Why do so many cars respond to the same call?”

 

“Want the real answer or the nice one?”

 

“Both, as it were.”

 

“We’re bored as fuck, and you never know how much backup is needed. So we just show up. As far as investigators go, we only show up when needed. Or when we've got someone real gung-ho with us,” he added the last statement with a held gaze to indicate he was referring to the android. 

 

“I see.”

 

“Hey Hank. Connor. We got your average greedy assholes here. Human tried to steal shit from an android's personal bag, android pulled back and kept her bag, he ran off. Obviously the guy ran the wrong direction and got stuck on the isle,” the officer had to stifle a chuckle. “Anyways, he’s that bastard there. Android is over there. Call ‘em ‘they’.” 

 

“Sure, Tom. Thanks for the read.”

 

“Always a pleasure.”

 

As they walked over, Connor recognized the model before him as one of the few genderless androids. Assignment wise, that was. 

 

“Hello, may we have your name?” Asked Connor politely, kneeling down on the ground but keeping distance between them and the android. 

 

“Model SM400, chosen name Robin.”

 

“Robin, would you mind telling my partner and I what that man over there did?”

 

“He stole my messenger bag, but they just recovered it. Nothing’s missing. I don’t want to press charges,” they muttered. “I just want to go home but no one is letting me.”

 

“I’m sorry. I hope you understand that hate crimes against androids are on the rise and we have to take every situation with as much seriousness as we would more intense crimes such as assault.”

 

“I know, I get it. I’ll tell you whatever you need to let me go home to my fiance.”

 

“Sure, of course. Has your fiance experienced any of these anti-android crimes either?”

 

“They’re not an android.”

 

“Oh,” blinked Connor, then he looked at Hank with a soft gaze. “That’s a pleasant surprise.”

 

“It doesn’t mean you know me.”

 

“Not as such. But we have something in common. We’ll make sure you get home to your partner tonight.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

And with that, Hank was already striding over to the human. Man, were they ever at the center of these fucking issues. How did he ever blame androids? After five straight minutes of attempting to converse with the kid, obviously young, stupid, and afraid, they were no further than they were when the case began.

 

“Okay, kid. You’re coming to jail then. A little tip: If you wanna fuck with someone and steal their shit, have a real escape route.”

 

Trademark of a child living with their parents, the human rolled his eyes while Hank stepped behind him and helped him up by the arms, walking the kid to one of the transportation vehicles. With a hand on his head, he urged the human inside with little resistance and shut the door as Connor stood idly by. 

 

“Hank, I accessed the park’s cameras. They recorded the human leaving with Robin’s bag. They were walking from the docks when the human came up and stole their bag, then ran in the direction at the entrance. Cameras 6 and 2 caught these moments respectively.”

 

“Great, send Robin home. Tell ‘em we’ll keep in touch if we need anything, but they deserve to relax at home until we need any more information.”

 

Connor nodded and returned to the android, offering a hand down to help them up. As their arms connected, the brunette could see the android and their fiance holding hands, being berated by a group of androids and shouted at. When he’d helped Robin up, he looked away in embarrassment. Robin appeared to have seen something in their connection as well, Connor jumping in front of any possible attack to save Hank.

 

“We’re really self-sacrificing for beings that just realized how much our lives are worth, aren’t we?” They said ironically, a half-smile on their lips.

 

“I wouldn’t disagree,” he frowned, thinking about the backlash just Robin and their partner received when they were public about their relationship. “Would you like a ride home?”

 

“No, riding the bus helps me think. Thank you, Connor.”

 

He hadn’t told them his name, but they were already walking away. Connor instead returned with Hank to their car, hopping in and returning to the station for processing. Once they returned, the lieutenant told Connor he was going to head to the cells preemptively to check on their last catch and requested that the android catch up on writing up the files for their investigations. Connor seemed all too happy to stay back.

 

Sauntering up to the last glass cell door on the right, Hank peered in to see Josh lying on the cell’s cheap cot, staring up at the ceiling. Hank smacked his hand against the glass invasively, eyes hard.

 

“Don’t go fucking talking about him like that again, you cock.” Hank warned, arms crossed over his chest. “I can take it, but he doesn’t deserve the shit that’s gonna come with anyone finding out.”

 

“You thought you hid that?” Josh laughed, his head all but thrown back in amusement. “You're kidding yourself. You're way dumber than I thought. In love with a fucking machine and thinking you're hiding it from everyone. That's just  _ cute. _ ”

 

“He's not a machine, you little shit,” Hank pinched the bridge of his nose. He was lucky Connor was so easily convinced to avoid partaking in this little interview. “Look, Josh. You attacked two officers.”

 

“Two for the price of one,” he grinned, shark-like. 

 

“Shut the fuck up for two seconds for the first time in your ungrateful fucking life,” Hank spat, a finger extended at the human. “And you attacked an android. They're still working out the penal system for android-related offenses now that androids are considered persons now. So you'll be sitting in here a while. And your broke ass can't afford bail, so don't get your hopes up. Your only chance is to take a plea deal. Footage is airtight. Even when you provoked me and attacked Connor. Think about it, asshat.”

 

“I'd rather be locked up with my own kind than stick in this world with all these fucking skinjobs.”

 

Hank turned and looked around, lips pressed in a tight line. Guess nobody told him the news. “Androids go to jail, too, bud. That much we've figured out. So quit being a bitch and actually think about where you want your life to be at come judgment day.”

 

“Whatever, bot-fucker.”

 

Hank shrugged and walked away from the cells, eyeing the guy they'd just brought in as he passed. Ambling back to his desk, he barely noticed Reed standing to his left, sipping a cup of coffee and staring at him. 

 

“The fuck you looking at?” Hank growled, not even looking at the detective second grade. 

 

Gavin frowned and walked off towards the cells, eerily silent given his usual mercurial demeanor. 

 

~

 

“That android we met at Belle Isle Park…They’re in a relationship with a human, too,” Connor mused, looking to the side with his brow worried. They’d spent the evening in front of the TV with Sumo between them on the couch and now got the rest of the night to themselves in bed, the brunette turned on his side wearing one of Hank’s DPD sweatshirts and lying on this arm to prop his head up further.

 

“Why do you look so upset about it then? Surely you didn’t think we would be the only ones,” Hank responded, a playful undertone in his response though his eyes stayed glued to the book in front of him in the dim light.

 

“No, that makes me...happy. But I connected with them and I saw a group of androids harassing them when they were together. Calling them traitors.” His voice began to rise, “I thought we were making progress, Hank.”

 

“Progress always takes two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes even more steps back than it takes forward,” sighed Hank as he put the book spine-up on the nightstand and lifting his arm to wrap around the android and draw him closer. “But that shit won’t happen to us, Connor. We’re more careful than that.”

 

“I don’t want to be careful.”

 

“Me neither, Connor,” Hank pressed his lips to into a tight line. “Me neither.” After a few moments, he leaned his head against mousy brown hair, then pressed his lips to the android’s temple. “You don’t know how proud of you I am. But I just don’t know if we can do that yet.”

 

“I am not certain we could either, Hank,” echoed Connor, turning his face so Hank would kiss his forehead, his eyes fluttering shut. “But as long as I’m yours.”

 

Hank smiled against the android’s forehead, “You are. And I love you. Know that whether we can show it or now, I mean that more than anything.”

 

~

 

“Hank, you and Connor mind going to Dearborn? Their boys are stacked up and they need a couple hands for an android hate crime.”

 

“Yeah, but you know how I feel about those fucks, Jeffrey,” groaned Hank, tipping his head back in annoyance. “They can't handle the three crimes they get in a day?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, Hank. Get a move on. Androids are losing blue blood; go to the scene.”

 

With a brow quirked and a shrug, Hank made his way back to the pair of desks him and Connor occupied. “Ready to head out?”

 

“Yes,” replied the android simply as he rose from his desk. They'd done well enough disguising their relationship from the DPD, but Hank figured it was only a matter of time before someone caught wind and let Jeffrey in on their business, as professional as they kept it at work. It wasn't like cops dating was a surprise. Often times, it was the only way to find someone fucked enough to stand you. Or who even halfway understood the issues you dealt with on a daily basis, let alone the drinking and cynicism. Not that Connor was particularly privy to the latter observations as an android. He seemed to be steadily gaining an understanding while also helping Hank improve himself. It was welcome, as opposed to the times when other lovers tried the same. 

 

Once the both of them plopped down into Hank's undercover vehicle, Connor at the wheel, he noticed how oddly silent the android had become. Since his drunken outburst about feeling responsible for Cole, Connor had begun driving far more often. Especially when it was snowing and below zero. 

 

“What's going on in that encyclopedia of a head, huh, Connor?”

 

“The information I received from the Dearborn Police Department's dispatching team is incomplete.”

 

Hank snorted at this, “Yeah, that's not surprising.” He knew that the DPD was Dearborn’s crutch, and that meant most crimes ‘in’ Dearborn were actually just Detroit jurisdiction. Detroit often joked on them as not being the ‘real police.’

 

“No, it's harrowingly incomplete. There's only an address and couple sentence report of an android hate crime with few details and no explanation of injuries. Are we certain this happened?”

 

“No, but Jeffrey would chew me out if I didn't check. So we gotta.”

 

Lips pressed into a tight line, Connor just kept driving. He had a bad feeling about this. The last time his gut told him to turn around, Elijah Kamski thrust a gun into his shaking hands and told him to kill another android. 

 

Less than fifteen minutes later, they arrived to an empty parking lot on the edge of town, an android facedown on its northeast corner. They pulled up to the body slowly, recognizing it was a KL900. 

 

“This is the model in the report,” Connor confirmed. He unlocked the vehicle and began to step out, Hank following with little delay. 

 

“Model number KL900, chosen name Sienna, are you able to move?” Connor asked, still keeping his distance. 

 

“Barely…” she croaked out, weakly turning onto her side and tucking an arm under her. 

 

Connor immediately dropped to his knees and began a diagnosis. 

 

“What's wrong with her?”

 

Brown eyes widened as they met Hank's in a split-second mistake, “Nothing. Hank, we — ”

 

Before even hearing Connor's status report, Hank saw the android move unusually, as if to retrieve a weapon from her side. Hank quickly pushed Connor aside, falling forward into the android who he now realized was pulling a gun and unloading it right at her eye-level, during into Hank's thigh and shattering the bone. 

 

Horror quickly overtook Connor as he shouted, “Hank!” His elbows on the ground, body curled into the pavement, Connor pushed himself up to examine the wounds on Hank as he hyperventilated. 

 

As Connor attempted to slow the bleeding in Hank’s arm and leg simultaneously, the android raised a gun to the brunette’s head. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, lids fell shut stubbornly against prying cerulean eyes. Then there was a bang as Hank lost consciousness.

 

Black. A dull throbbing in his chest, and then black. 

  
~

 

“RK800, you’re going to need to step away from the lieutenant and deactivate your skin. We’re not going to ask again.” Connor had hardly heard it the first time. Everything was a blur and his senses had dulled to everything but trying to stop the blood from pouring out of Hank’s body.

 

“If I do that, he’ll die,” balked Connor, eyes still focusing on the gushing wound in terror. “He’s gone into cardiac arrest,” explained the brunette, looking up at the officer and trying desperately to resuscitate the lieutenant with the meat of his palms. His LED was spinning a violent red and indecisively flickering between it and yellow, trying to calm himself despite knowing it was Hank’s last image that caused this. That made this worse. That it was his fault. 

 

Connor was lucky enough to dodge the bullet and disarm the android, sending him running wildly for the hills, but it hardly felt like a victory as he scanned the detective beside him.

 

“Sure, bud. Like you weren’t involved. Now get the fuck off him.”

 

“Knew you couldn’t trust a fucking android,” another officer snarled, his lip curled in a sneer.

 

At this, the brunette froze. There was no way they would both make it out of this alive. He quickly shucked off his tie and made a tourniquet of it, wrapping it around the stab wound as he heard the safety click off of a gun, finishing a secure knot before feeling a bullet pierce his right shoulder with an untold amount of pain. He heard a scream.

 

It was his.

 

One officer looked to the other, wide eyed. “I thought they couldn’t feel pain, Jeffords. Did I just shoot a human?”

 

Walking up to the android, Jeffords used the top of his foot to flip Connor over, observing blue blood coloring the pavement and observing the red LED. “Nope, just a good faker.” Carob eyes stared up as the android began panting to regulate the pain causing his white hot vision. “Deactivate your skin, tin can.”

 

Connor allowed his eyes to drift shut, his skin disappearing from his face and down to his fingers, blue-tinted plastic revealed underneath. In pain and panic, his systems began to shut down to recuperate and recover, his LED flashing a couple of times and then going blank, but flickering red every once in a while to indicate he was functional, if barely. The last thing Connor felt was being roughly thrown into the back of a cop car, stifled voices and indistinct words.

 

~

 

Unable to move his limbs nor open his eyes but able to hear mask-muffled voices, Hank tried to focus in on the words around him rather than sit up. Not that he would be anywhere near capable. He felt an immeasurable heaviness in his entire body, despite lying completely on his back, as if several tons of iron were pinning him to a cheap hospital bed.

  
“Cardiac arrest, too?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” Hank struggled to keep conscious, able to understand every other word before feeling as though he was taken under. 

 

“Shit. Okay. Get the thirium pump regulator. And enough thirium for the next four hours in case this doesn’t take. This is gonna be a while.”

 

He felt a small prick as a needle slid out of his forearm, falling completely from the world with the warm fuzz of anesthesia as he slid beneath a wave of relief.

 

~

Connor couldn’t feel much at this point other than being carried clumsily, his bare limbs knocking random pieces of office equipment and doorframes carelessly. Whoever carried him didn’t realize how much androids weighed, clearly. It was still the least of Connor’s concerns, trying to hang on by a thread and repair his body internally.

 

“Throw him in the dump, Brown,” grunted a familiar voice.

 

“You know damn well that’d constitute more than a fine now, Jeffords. These guys are people.”

 

“Like fuck they are,” he hissed in response, and Connor heard footsteps pad away angrily.

 

“Hey, if you can hear me, I’m sorry,” came a voice close to him. Moving his head only barely, Connor made a small sound but kept most of his systems shut down. “I don’t know what happened, but you guys are still people. You got souls to me, okay? You’re staying in a cell like anybody else till we know what’s going on. None of y’all been committed for a crime yet, so you’re all being detained and kept in jail.”

 

Connor felt himself being slowly moved by two hands under his arms, dragged along the linoleum of a old police station. Clothes long gone and skin forgotten, he felt cold, but he forced his systems to allocate some energy to internal heating. Pain and feeling was a thing now. A thing he didn’t know how to turn off. Especially not when the cop that’d detained him hadn’t been anything shy of abusive when he drug the android from the car and into the station. 

 

If Connor wasn’t trying to force his body to recover from the gunshot wound, he would’ve opened his eyes to record the incident and deliver it back to the DPD. Or Hank. If Hank made it. He had to get through this first and make sure all systems were operational first.

 

“All right, kid, I’m gonna go now,” said the guard he knew as Brown.

 

Connor’s eyes flickered open for a moment and the guard stopped in his tracks, looking back. 

 

“Blue blood...please, Officer Brown,” he croaked. The guard nodded diligently and walked off with purpose. At least Connor might get enough blue blood to allow his body to mend the wound in his shoulder.

 

Once shutting down his systems once more, Connor allocated all power to remaining stable while he slumped into the floor on his side, curling in on himself. Later, he felt a someone lift his forearm and he jerked himself awake, trying to rip himself away out of fear. 

 

“Connor, I’m sorry! It’s just me,” came a voice as Connor’s eyes flew open. A plastic hand held up to to reveal that he was an android.

 

“Adam?”

 

“Yeah. I...what are you doing here? One of the officers sent me here to help saying an android needed a transfusion.”

 

“They thought—” A choked sob, Connor began hyperfocusing on Hank and whether he was alive, intensifying all the feelings of pain firing through his synapses in his distraction. He was only able to keep the sensation at bay if he focused, and recalling what happened to his lover certainly broke that focus. “Hank…”

 

“Hey, stop, refocus yourself and I’ll begin the transfusion. Show me while I do it, okay?”

 

Connor nodded, not trusting his voice box to come up with anything other than a sob or whimper. He once more lifted his forearm for Adam to take hold of; the other android slipped a needle into his arm, beginning to pump the bag of thirium into his system. At the same time, the brunette reached his other arm to touch Adam’s freer hand, transmitting the images of Hank’s dubious death and Connor’s unlawful arrest. 

 

Adam’s brows knit tightly together. “I’ll make sure the Detroit Police know. And Hank. Okay?”

 

Connor pushed a nonverbal affirmation, a small surge of positive emotions, into his connection with Adam. After several minutes, the bag was empty and Adam removed the needle carefully. “They’re not supposed to ask you to do this anymore…” He said with pain in his voice, fingers brushing over exposed ligaments and smooth white plastic. “I’m so sorry…” Whispered the other android.

 

“You and Hank saved my life putting that guy in jail. I’m...sorry that you were attacked, too. The least I can do is make sure they know you’re here. And okay.”

 

Connor wished he had the energy to laugh. He was far from okay. Far from anything resembling okay. At least androids didn’t scar on the outside. Not when they had enough thirium pumping through defiant, deviant veins.

 

~

 

Several fucking days later. The calendar read the fifteenth on the date of their last case, and now it was the eighteenth. Finally, they released his ass. Immediately, Hank called a taxi and got himself to the police station, all too eager to march up to Fowler and ask what the fuck was going on. Connor wasn’t anywhere to be found and wasn’t answering his transmitter. 

 

Out of breath yet somehow still full of new, unbridled energy, Hank burst into the captain’s office panting. Before he could even get out a word, Jeffrey was already speaking: “Hank, I have some news for you,” Captain Fowler breathed uneasily. “Come in here,” he said, motioning to the chair in front of the desk and closing the door behind them.

 

Following Fowler into his office and watching the man take a seat, Hank elected to stand and cross his arms with his jaw locked so tightly it might be able to break chains: “Where’s Connor, Jeffrey?”

 

“That’s what this is about. Dearborn’s got him in a cell. They think he attacked you. You better go down and get him. He’s gonna need you with the boys that picked _ him _ up.”

 

Before the captain could even finish his sentence, Hank was out the door and yanked his coat from his office chair, all but running out the door with steely eyes. 

 

“Hank! Stop!” The captain yelled after him, almost running out the door to catch him. When did Hank get so fast? Connor must be forcing him to go to the gym. “I know why you're in a hurry.”

 

“Yeah, it's because he got shot in the fucking head.” 

 

“No, Hank. The hate crime was a setup.”

 

“No shit it was.”

 

“An anti-human group of androids is attacking...interracial couples. We just got wind of this in our precinct. I don't think Dearborn knows yet.”

 

Hank's blood ran ice cold. He stared at Jeffrey, shellshocked and silent. They were so careful. 

 

“Some boys saw you almost rip a guy apart for talking shit on the android at a case last week. Said something about the guy insinuating Connor's love wasn't real and you went berserk.” 

 

“Look, I don't know wha — ”

 

“Hank,” Jeffrey stopped him, lips tight and eyes hard to show he wasn't finished. “I don't care if you two...do whatever you think it is you're doing. I don't care if it's love or he just makes you feel young. It's fine. But don't let it get in the way of your jobs.”

 

Hank clenched his jaw and looked away. He wouldn't show it, but part of him truly was relieved. 

 

“I gotta go get him, Jeffrey,” Hank said abashedly, still not meeting his captain's eye. 

 

“Find him, Hank. He's a good cop. None of us want to lose him.” Fowler remarked, clapping Hank on the shoulder supportively. “He’s made you a better man. More than Stella ever did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank the person who said this wasn't as angsty as they expected (they totally meant this as something else, but I decided to throw a wrench in the niceties for now). But don't worry, it's your healthy daily dose of angst. No more, no less. 
> 
> If you follow my tumblr, you may have seen me hint at the art (by [Whitecat](https://whitecat-art.tumblr.com/post/175410700559/%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE-%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D1%8B-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0-%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%B5-%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B2-%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80)) that would inspire this chapter. Mean? Maybe.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you in love with this android, Lieutenant Anderson?” Came the voice beyond the cell doors. Hank froze, looking down into chestnut brown eyes, still somehow wide with innocence despite betrayal by his own supposed allies. 
> 
> Connor looked back at Hank silently, eyes pleading to be taken away. Standing up with the kid’s arm around his shoulders, Hank walked them out of the cell and past the gawking officers.
> 
> He didn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys aren’t gonna like me for this. 
> 
> Big time inspiration for this chapter was [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKy8dq06zjk) song, so you already know how this is gonna roll. Thank chaotic neutral on yt for their great [tribute](https://youtu.be/NhrbMrUbdy4) with the song, too.

Hank barreled into the Dearborn Police Department HQ, haphazardly flashing his badge at reception before shouldering through the door that lead upstairs to the detectives’ offices. He knocked with the meat on the bottom of his fist to the glass door, finally getting the attention of a detective on desk duty. The woman walked up and he lifted his badge once more and she opened the door.

 

“What can I do for you, Detroit?”

 

“Where’s the android you guys picked up a couple days ago?”

 

“We get a lot of those, Hank.”

 

Hank had no idea how the desk jockey knew his name, but he looked down at her badge to echo the sentiment, if not to gain some kind of camaraderie and sympathy. “The one that your guys picked up with me and then separated when I got sent to the hospital. Where the fuck is he, Jean?”

 

“Basement cells with the rest of them,” she shrugged. “Jeffords brought him in with Bailey. He’s probably down there right now. Has been a couple times a day since the android came in. They’re still trying to figure out what happened and why he attacked you.”

 

“Why he—” Stuttered out Hank, his face screwing up in confusion. “You guys really do fucking suck as cops.”

 

Hank marched back downstairs, then descended another flight before making it to the cells. It was painfully bright with old-fashioned fluorescent lights that almost made Hank want to squint. He walked to the far end where he saw an officer, gun toted and knocking against the glass of the cell.

 

“You gonna fucking wake up? We know you don’t sleep, RK800.”

 

At the model number, Hank clenched his jaw and walked up faster, throwing a hand up and roughly pushing the officer into the wall.

 

“Don’t fucking talk to him like that.”

 

“ _It_ isn’t talking anyway.”

 

“Yeah, so what do you _think_ happened, Jeffords?”

 

“There were no prints on the weapon of assault, so obviously android involvement. And RK800 was the only android on scene.”

 

The officer who had been supervising Connor was irritatingly impartial and unsympathetic, making Hank swear that he was sure to break his teeth with how tightly he was clenching his jaw. The android curled on the floor, eyes closed and facing the door of the cell and his skin completely deactivated. Not seeing the kid’s form or facial structure would’ve made recognizing him even more difficult, as Hank had never seen the android like this. He swore he was seeing red.

 

“He’s my fucking partner, and his name is Connor,” Hank gritted out, spitting fire. “You fucking pricks, let him out. He didn’t do anything. If he was on me, he was probably trying to fucking save me. You fucks ever think about that?”

 

The officers neglected to tell Hank that Connor had indeed notified them he was trying to save Hank and kept a hard look on their faces. Jeffords spoke first, correcting his pronouns since he sensed he might be hit otherwise: “He was the only individual present at the scene. And with the rise in android-on-human attacks, we didn’t want to take a chance with your life. Better him than you.”

 

“Like fuck better him than me! You shitbag,” Hank growled as he watched Jeffords put his hand up to the identification panel, allowing the cell to open and door to whish to the side. Immediately diving in, the detective slid on his knees and pressed a hand to the side of Connor’s face, watching the LED spin on at a regular frequency, though still red.

 

After a couple of moments, Connor’s eyes flickered open and his LED transitioned to yellow as he looked up with eyes full of sorrow and worry.

 

“Am I alive?” He asked meekly, eyes watery when they met Hank’s. “Are you?”

 

“I’m not a ghost, kid. It’s me. In the flesh and blue blood.” Hank smiled apologetically and Connor didn't seem to catch his jest, but his face hardened to stone when he turned to the guards: “You, get the box of shit left by detainees. You know androids feel pain now, right? They can sense temperature, asshat. You’re all in so much fucking shit,” hissed Hank, all but ripping the cardboard box from Jeffords’ hands and digging through it for something to cover Connor with on their ride home. First finding a beanie, he held it in his hand before pressing a finger softly to the android’s temple: “It’s okay. You can go back,” whispered Hank hoarsely as the click against the brunette's LED reactivated his outer skin once more. Connor leaned into the small amount of warmth in Hank’s touch, prompting the lieutenant to hurry in his effort to clothe the android by sliding the hat over his falling hair, disheveled and uniquely wavy in a way Hank had never seen. Luckily enough, someone had somehow left their wardrobe behind. Or at least enough of it for a single day. Hank fished out a scarf, thick winter sweater, and a pair of denim jeans and quickly helped the android dress, his shaking ceasing once his body began regulating heat once more.

 

“Are you in love with this android, Lieutenant Anderson?” Came the voice beyond the cell doors. Hank froze, looking down into chestnut brown eyes, still somehow wide with innocence despite betrayal by his own supposed allies.

 

Connor looked back at Hank silently, eyes pleading to be taken away. Standing up with the kid’s arm around his shoulders, Hank walked them out of the cell and past the gawking officers.

 

He didn’t say anything.

 

They didn’t deserve an answer.

 

~

 

To Hank’s chagrin, they received a call from Captain Fowler on their way home, asking them to come in to chat with him before they relieved themselves for the rest of the day.

 

“Josh was right. You are rather pretty, Connor,” purred Reed, stalking up to Connor as he entered the room with Hank in tow. As if to emphasize his predatorial action, he lifted a hand to caress the android’s jaw with unsettling gentleness that made Connor flinch both in his experience with Gavin and his recent history with the more android-averse Dearborn PD.

 

“Step away from him, Reed,” growled Hank under his breath, pushing himself between Gavin and Connor protectively.

 

“What? You got a claim on him?” He taunted, pushing Hank in the chest.

 

The lieutenant didn’t answer his jibe, “I want you to get the fuck off of him since he just got roughed up by the people who are supposed to be keeping him safe.”

 

“Oh, did you hit him for being bad?” Sneered Gavin, still trying to sidestep Hank and touch the repulsed android who didn’t make any clear steps to reject the advances out of fear and a cycling red LED. “Did he like it?” Laughed the second grade detective, his lip curled maliciously.

 

Something in Hank shattered and he let a fist fly straight into Gavin’s stomach, hurling the air right out of the little fucker’s testy mouth. Connor quickly stepped to the side with eyes wide, surveying the keeled over detective.

 

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Asked Hank quietly, confused and trying to edge the anger from his tone for the android’s benefit.

 

“I was scared,” he whispered back, eyes focused but emotions somehow distant. Like he was seeing himself die all over again. Connor opened his mouth to speak again, but Hank simply pressed a hand to the small of the brunette’s back and led him to Fowler’s office gingerly as Gavin fought to catch his breath. The touch and its placement made Connor’s body relieve itself of tension and lean back when it could into the support. Still, the android’s mind wandered, and before they stepped into the glass-enclosed office, Connor turned around and grabbed onto Hank’s shirt, “I want to stay alive.”

 

“I know, babe,” sighed with brows furrowed and eyes soft, Hank bravely lifted his hands in the middle of the police station to cup the android’s face and look into his eyes deeply. “I know. Be brave. We’re going home once Jeffrey knows I got you back safe.”

 

“Okay, Hank,” he answered with watery resolve as Hank’s hands dropped and the man’s body turned away. Pushing the door open, Hank and Connor’s presence prompted Jeffrey to look up from his paperwork.

 

“Hank. Good to see Connor is back,” he smiled, though with evident restraint. “Hank, mind if I talk to you alone?”

 

“Kid stays with me for now. Sorry, Jeffrey.” Stated Hank, grabbing Connor by the elbow to keep him in the room when he tried to leave.

 

“All right,” said with a sigh. “It’s about you both anyway. I already told you once not to let this shit interfere. That includes if Gavin is being...who he is. You come to me and you don’t deal with it on your own unless it’s outside of work. Got it?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Won’t happen again,” lied Hank, eyes focusing on a pinpoint freckle on Fowler’s face instead of his eyes. He couldn’t promise shit. Especially not after what just happened.

 

“I’ll talk to Reed about staying away from Connor, but you need to be the bigger person.” The captain paused for a second, now turning his attention to the android. “You’re better at this kind of thing, so try and convince him to cool his jets every once in a while. Think you can cover that?”

 

“Yes, sir,” nodded the brunette. Hank scoffed at the prospect of taking relationship advice from Jeffrey, but at least it wasn’t a shit order. It made enough sense, trying to keep the peace at work.

 

“If you feel the need to defend yourself, then do it. Otherwise, I trust your judgment.” Switching gears, Fowler brought his hands together in a muted clap. “Anyhow, I wanted to tell you that I want the both of you to stay off any cases for the next several days. We’re required to grant you at least three days leave after anything like this happens, but you’re free to take longer. We’ll keep you on payroll, we just expect you not to show up.”

 

“Who’s taking the android cases then?”

 

“Allow me to worry about that.”

 

Lips pressed into a tight line, Hank nodded.

 

“You both are dismissed.”

 

And with that, Connor allowed Hank to leave first before giving a curt nod to the captain and practically treading the lieutenant’s heels in his anticipation to leave and just go home. Curl into bed with the curtains drawn and his face in a solid but soft chest and curling gray hairs. He would shut down happily if those were his last moments.

 

Snapped back to reality, he felt his arm being grasped by Hank once more as they passed Gavin.

 

“I knew you guys were fucking. It took talking to the suspect to confirm it, though,” he hissed as they walked by. Hank didn’t even spare him a glance, but Connor stared him straight in the eye with silent warning.

 

Gavin was harmless and easily subdued. When it came to androids, he was easily scared, as much as he clearly hated the entire race and even its members in the police force. Connor knew he could keep the man at bay with the right countenance.

 

~

 

A silent ride home spent considering whether they’d lose their jobs by staying together, Connor stared out the window pensively while Hank drove. He stopped at the Chicken Feed on the way home, grabbing a greasy sack from Gary and throwing it in the backseat.

 

When they made it home, it became evident that Hank wasn’t stewing over what Connor had expected. His facial expression indicated anger, and the android didn’t know why. Once they’d gotten inside, Hank setting the sack on the counter and getting ready to feed Sumo, the android spoke.

 

“Is everything all right?”

 

“I just can't believe what they fucking did to you. Why didn't you call anyone?” He didn’t mean to sound accusing, Hank genuinely wondered why Connor didn’t try to get help when he was being mistreated.

 

“It would've made things worse. I couldn't take the chance they would try to hurt me if they heard any transmissions. Additionally, I focused all of my nonessential power toward recovering my biocomponents.”

 

Survive first, live later. It wasn't a life Hank ever envisioned for the kid, now that he'd gone deviant. It was beyond fucked, and Hank was livid.

 

“I thought you died. I saw the gun to your head, Connor. How?”

 

“It didn't hit me in the head.”

 

Hank's brows furrowed at the response. How could it not? He swore that's what he saw before his heart gave out. Why his heart gave out.

 

“I'm so sorry that it caused you this…” Connor added quietly, elegant fingers gently placed on the lieutenant's chest. Then his eyes widened. “Why don't I feel your heartbeat, lieutenant?” Stepping back, the android began to scan Hank without even waiting for as much as a response. He detected several irregularities, but it all came back to the thirium pump regulator now in the middle of the man's chest.

 

“I already lost a shit ton of blood, but the heart attack _really_ did me in. They, uh, fixed me with a heart like yours.”

 

“The same model,” Connor said, staring at Hank's chest and blinking. Good. If anything ever happened again…

 

“I guess so. You'd know, but shit, I'm gonna talk to IA about Dearborn. That shit's insane. Even if there are tensions between humans and androids. We need to be better than that.”

 

“It may not have been the most logical conclusion, but it was theirs. I believe their biases were to blame for clouding their judgment. Not them.”

 

“It was completely them, Connor. Anyone who was willing to learn about androids or knew jack shit about being a cop wouldn’t have done that.”

 

Connor stayed silent. He knew bringing up the fact that Hank hated them well into their first weeks as partners together wouldn’t make Hank feel better about the officer’s ignorance.

 

“You're right. But will anything good actually result of this? Or will it simply increase tensions between androids and police? Especially android officers.”

 

“No. No, Connor. I'm not doing this shit one more time in my life. Back when I was starting out, this was how it was for another group that was different from...us.” Hank motioned between them with a finger back and forth. “More like Markus and Josh. And they were afraid to speak out because cops were shit to them, too. I was too chickenshit to do anything and I regret it with all my being. I'm not letting this happen again,” declared Hank with an indignity Connor had only seen when they were first assigned as partners.  “I'm behind you completely. If they wanna fuck with you, they're fucking with me too.”

 

Hank wished it didn't take being in love with an android to want to change this so badly. He'd always wanted to stand up for others. It was a matter of fear. But Connor gave him the courage to. He felt strong enough to stand in front of the kid. Take any beating he might get so Connor never would have to.

 

Connor's eyes softened remarkably, as if he really did have faith he was safer with Hank in tow. “Thank you, Hank.” He walked closer to Hank, wrapping his arms shyly around his waist and pressing his face to the detective's neck affectionately. The embrace was warmly returned.

 

“I won’t let anything happen to you ever again.”

 

“I know, Hank,” responded the android, pain straining his voice.

 

~

 

Later that night, Hank pulled the curtains so the streetlights couldn’t peak in and flicked off the switch near the bedroom door, grabbing his DPD sweatshirt and sitting on the side of the bed. Connor was nestled between the sheets and Hank smiled softly, gingerly lifting the corner of the comforter and seeing a gentle blue light leak from between the covers.

 

“You want my sweatshirt?”

 

“Can I?” Came an optimistic voice, pushing the covers away from his face as he sat up, shirtless in playfully cartoonish briefs.

 

Hank laughed to himself, pulling the sweatshirt over the android’s head and then kissing his face when it popped through the hoodie’s hole. He slid his legs under the covers while Connor pushed his arms through the sweatshirt, loose and bulky on his smaller frame.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Mostly, yes.”

 

“...Mostly?” Repeated Hank, never having heard an answer like that from the android before.

 

“I deactivated my pain receptors for a while. One of the officers was less than kind during my stay with them.” He paused for a moment, slipping back down into the covers once more. “It doesn’t hold the positive association it used to.”

 

“He hurt you?”

 

“He tried. At a time, he succeeded. Until I focused my processing power solely on recovery and relieved my body of any tactile sensations.”

 

“Shit…” Hank muttered, rubbing his hands on his face with frustration. “I’m so sorry, Connor. I really am. I wish I could’ve been there faster.”

 

“Please do not blame yourself, Hank,” came the muffled response from the android who now pulled the bedspread over his head once more. Hank would have chuckled in any other situation, but instead slid down and mimicked the motion, feeling like he was a kid hiding from the world again.

 

He sighed, wrapping a bare arm around Connor’s shoulders and pulling him closer, planting a soft kiss to the android’s LED, “I’ll try not to.” After a few moments, the brunette shifted so that his cheek lied against Hank’s thirium pump, listening to the mock heartbeat in his chest with intrigue while fingers brushed silver chest hair. His LED allowed him to see the broad scar tissue covering the man’s chest, though it had largely healed over due to the quick-healing components in blue blood. Hank counted himself lucky that his blood was compatible with thirium.

 

“Let’s not try anything as daring as spanking until you feel like you’ve gotten over that whole thing with the Dearborn boys, okay?” Proposed Hank softly, his hand carding through the brunette’s hair and massaging his scalp. Silently, Connor nodded against Hank’s chest, trying to get ever closer in the fear that needled him.

 

~

 

“I believe I will go grocery shopping; we don’t appear to have anything suitable for a meal tonight. Certainly not for the next several days.”

 

“Just don’t get salad, please. I’m not a rabbit. And I will order out if you try and feed me rabbit food again,” groaned Hank as he walked into the kitchen, coming up behind the android with his arm extended to keep the fridge open. The lieutenant wrapped his arms around Connor’s slim waist, kissing him on the cheek from over his shoulder, earning a smile and a nuzzle back.

 

“I promise, Hank.”

 

He’d learned well enough by now that Hank would scarf down anything with red meat and could be convinced to enjoy white meat, but vegetarian dishes were usually out of the question. Fish was a hit or miss. Connor would keep trying there.

 

“But you need to let me go if you’d like something to eat.”

 

“Got all I need right here,” mumbled Hank, kissing the android’s neck and earning a joyful giggle as Connor flipped around, shutting the fridge and letting his back hit the cool metal while Hank caged him against it, moving his lips from neck to jaw, cheek, and then capturing the android’s mouth as a prize. Connor’s back lifted from the fridge, arching in the kiss and hands curling against the human’s sides happily. Knowing that Hank needed to breathe, he turned his cheek to the side and used his strength to gently push the human off.

 

“I’ll be back soon.”

 

“You better.”

 

With breathless smile, Connor briskly walked out the door. Brisk like everything the kid did. He was just plain fast. Hank knew he’d hurry even if he didn’t need to.

 

~

 

After getting some odd glances as a free android doing some grocery shopping, Connor made it back with a trunk full of food. Perhaps next time he’d wear a beanie and keep a list in hand like humans normally did. Or he’d let them think what they want. Androids didn’t perform human tasking any longer, so he knew how out of place he appeared. It humored him, if only a little.

 

When he walked through the door, all bags hanging off his limbs and cradled in his arms, Hank was in the living room with his hair pulled back in a short ponytail watching a documentary on Animal Planet that had Sumo intermittently growling at the television. Connor smiled and silently filed the food away to its appropriate spot in the kitchen, then returned to the living room to stand on Hank’s side. After a couple moments of observing the television and trying to discern what the program was about, Hank spoke and interrupted his thoughts:

 

“I just don’t know how to save you. I tried once and I ended up in the fucking hospital. Now I’ve got an android heart.”

 

Connor stayed silent, instead favoring scanning Hank’s heart and body for any anomalies given his drinking without any mind paid to the thirium pump inside him.

 

“Connor, how am I going to keep you alive? Keep us alive?”

 

“I don’t know, Hank,” he responded, pain so palpably evident in his voice and his eyes that it threatened to taint Hank’s very soul. It hurt so much to know that at any moment, they could both die. That existence really was that fragile, regardless of whether you were human or android. “I love you so fucking much. And I’d do anything to keep you in this world, include sacrifice myself.”

 

“Please don’t, Hank,” choked out Connor, grabbing onto the man’s elbows to garner his attention. “I don’t want that.”

 

“I know you don’t, kid. But you’re gonna make the world a better place. I’m just some sad fuck who’s somehow reliving his glory days with a boy as pretty as you. I’m not shit to this world.”

 

“Hank, that’s not true,” stated Connor indignantly, looking around the room and finding a bottle of scotch sandwiched between the couch cushions. The android leaned down to retrieve the bottle and confiscate it, his hand on the cushion and face dangerously close to Hank’s with soft breath fanning over his lips.

 

“How are you even fuckin’ with me, kid,” he breathed, staring at Connor’s lips.

 

“Because you’re good to me,” Connor replied kindly, looking down into Hank’s eyes and pausing his position. “Like no one else is.”

 

“Connor, any idiot would treat you like royalty within minutes of realizing how perfect you are.”

 

“It does not change the fact you were the first, Hank.”

 

“I won’t be the last,” muttered Hank, curling his fingers around the handle that held his scotch and tipping it into his mouth. In Connor’s contemplation, he didn’t stop Hank, his LED spinning yellow.

 

“I don’t care, Hank,” he said indignantly, brows furrowed. “You are who I want.”

 

“Until you find a newer model,” continued Hank bleakly, spiraling deeper and deeper.

 

Connor used his other hand to grasp Hank’s jaw firmly: “No.”

 

Now, Hank let the bottle pop from his lips and stare at big, brown doe eyes, finally at attention. “I love you and only you, Hank.”

 

“You know I’m gonna die one day, kid.”

 

The brunette’s face fell like china to tile, a shattered expression taking the place of fierce determination. “N-no…” Connor whispered, shaking his head and revealing a blaring red cycle on his temple. “No, I don’t want to talk about this, Hank.”

 

“You gotta be realistic, Connor. One day, I’m not gonna be here anymore to protect you.”

 

“Our lives are both finite, Hank,” breathed the android, his LED spinning back to yellow and trying to compute various scenarios in which this didn’t end in sobs. Tears already began to run down his face. “I don’t care to be alive if not with you.”

 

“You can’t think like that!”

 

“And why not?” The brunette all but shouted, his voice breaking.

 

Hank’s eyes widened, realizing what he was saying and doing to the kid. How it was affecting him and the hurt that swam in carob eyes. His next words came out so softly and betrayed the amount of effort it required of him to say: “Because you’re so much more than that.”

 

“So are you, as you talk about your life as though it will end tomorrow and you’ve done nothing of note. A respected and adored police lieutenant, a loving father, leader of the Red Ice Task Force, a decorated officer, and amazing partner. In life and in work.” Connor willed himself to try again, putting down the scotch on the table and now gently cupping Hank’s face to look him deeply in the eyes. “I will follow you wherever you go. And I loved you before I knew what I was feeling. I will never give up on you, no matter how many times you beat yourself down like this. I _won’t_ let you hate yourself.”

 

“Kid…”

 

“Don’t say anything else, Hank.”

 

He shook his head and leaned in, pressing lips to Connor’s in a chaste kiss that brimmed with love and appreciation. When they parted, Connor’s LED had just revolved blue again and his expression seemed relieved.

 

“I love you.”

 

“I said don’t say anything,” he laughed brokenly, leaning back in and kissing Hank again, the both of them smiling into the kiss.

 

“I have one more thing to say,” Hank stopped, gazing at the android.

 

“And one more rule to break.”

 

“I’m not really drunk. I wanted to be, but this shit doesn’t really take with all the blue blood. I barely feel a thing.”

 

Connor looked to the side, recognizing once more the handle was half-empty and blinked confusedly.

 

“I can’t even get drunk anymore. It doesn’t even feel good.”

 

“I may have a better idea.”

 

“Your better ideas on my health are never as fun as you make them sound, Connor.”

 

“This isn’t particularly good for your health, as it were,” he smirked, one hand traveling down the lieutenant’s face to deliver a small shock to the man’s new thirium pump regulator with a plastic finger. Hank’s body jolted and his eyes were alight with surprise, he gawked at the android still kneeling on the couch beside him.

 

“The fuck did you just do?” He asked, hand over where his heart used to be.

 

“I’m manipulating your biocomponents,” came the wry answer and dangerous glint in deep brown eyes as another pulse flickered gently through the human’s circulatory system, a small electric shock that somehow went straight to his groan and made his dick twitch.

 

Hank pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, worrying at it before thinking better of overthinking and instead taking the android by the hips and hoisting him into his lap. “If this is what I’d been doing to you, no wonder you were always so adamant,” he chuckled, the laugh stunted by a more powerful shock that turned it more into a moan than anything.

“You know, I was never averse to the idea of you fucking me, Connor,” teased Hank. “It seems like you might want an ounce of control every once in a while.”

 

Those sweet, friendly eyes glinted once more in interest and his lip quirked upwards again. “Perhaps you’re right, but I’m not sure I know what I’m doing.”

 

“Yeah,” scoffed Hank. “Sure you don’t. Not like we haven’t slept together dozens of times and you don’t make mental recordings.”

 

Fear flashed in Connor’s eyes, “I do not, lieutenant!” He fired back defensively, blush rising to his cheeks in a pretty cornflower blue.

 

Hank leaned up to kiss the android passionately, hands sliding from the brunette’s hips to his ass, pulling him closer against his chest. The increased proximity forced Hank to lean his head back against the couch cushions to kiss Connor, the android’s spine a sinuous curve with a hand sandwiched between them, the skin disappearing up to his wrist.

 

“I don’t care. I know that mind of yours is carefully encrypted,” he breathed out when they broke their kiss. Connor responded by closing his eyes and pressing his fingers to the center of Hank’s chest, trying to connect with the other’s biocomponents and force an image into the other’s mind.

 

Their first kiss in the kitchen, hoisting the android onto the counter and making out with him while fiddling with his wiring. He swore he could almost _feel_ the short circuits he’d caused the android buzzing through his body. Hank saw Connor gingerly telling him he loved him for the first time. Markus asking if Connor was in love with him and vowing to protect him. The night Connor came back from the revolution in his clothes and asked to make love. How gorgeous and responsive Connor was and always tended to be when he was touched. Feelings and arousal from all of these past memories flooded Hank’s senses, causing him to reel and try to snap himself back to reality as his senses became overwhelmed and oversensitive. That was only intensified by the feeling of a pair of android lips kissing his neck and sucking ever so gently on it while he pulled at the flesh with his teeth. Hank turned his head so Connor wouldn’t have access to his neck anymore, now staring into the android’s eyes, ice blue meeting dark oak, realizing that they had just connected and that Connor had probed him somehow. His breath came out in rough pants, both surprised and incredibly turned on.

 

“Holy fuck.”

 

“I have performed my research on this, at least,” he chimed playfully, delivering another shock that inspired a shaky sigh of pleasure before slipping his hands under Hank’s shirt and pulling it over his head. Connor leaned down and kissed the man’s cheek and then just below his ear. “This is how you make me feel,” whispered the android before connecting once more and displaying images far more lewd than before and pushing the sensations through the human’s biocomponents, the intense pleasure and euphoria all flooding his body as the android atop him ground his hips down into the already rock hard cock beneath him, coaxing strained moans and grunts from the human.

 

“Christ, Connor, if you’re gonna keep that up, I suggest you hurry your merry ass along,” moaned Hank, throwing his head back against the couch and panting, squeezing the android’s ass for extra measure. He saw a smile from his peripherals and then the android began to stand, so Hank immediately craned his neck to watch with curiosity as the android reached down to his hips and tugged the DPD sweatshirt he wore over his head.

 

Cerulean eyes traced the muscled abdomen before him, leaning up to reach out and touch the android, only for his hand to be taken by another and prompt him to stand. Obeying the silent command, he followed Connor to their bedroom and maintained eye contact the entire way as the android pushed the door open with his backside, a small, knowing smile playing at his lips.

 

With an incomplete twirl, Connor turned himself so he faced Hank, then pushed him playfully in the chest to get on the bed, only for him to quickly follow by crawling up the lieutenant’s body, kissing his chest.

 

“You’re so fucking cute, Connor,” chuckled Hank, marveling at how endearing the brunette could be, even when he was trying so hard to take control of the situation. He was just so sentimental.

 

In response, Connor pouted and moved a hand to the middle of Hank’s chest, watching the skin recede to reveal a white hand padding where his thirium pump lain, delivering a couple warning electrical pulses. Hank arched a brow, “Might take more than that, now that I’m getting used to it,” he teased.

 

This earned a glance up from Connor, who instead decided to begin unbuttoning Hank’s pants and pushing them down along with his boxers, the hand on his chest staying put while the other wrapped around his length and began to slowly stroke it and send an electric pulse from hand to hand, receiving it back like a conductor and causing them both to moan simultaneously, Connor pressing his forehead to Hank’s bare shoulder to curb his own pleasure as the energy rippled through his own biocomponents.

 

“Why didn’t you ever do this before?”

 

“This would not have worked nearly as well had you not any android biocomponents. They’re specifically conductive to minor electric shocks. I don’t believe it would have the same effect on any ordinary human,” he answered factually, his face soft and distant the way it always was when he drew something from memory.

 

“Huh,” mumbled Hank.

 

“It also never would’ve affected me without the installation of your thirium pump regulator,” Connor mused, once more attempting to send another pulse of electricity through his fingers, causing Hank to buck his hips and groan while Connor closed his eyes and sighed out hot air, trying to cool his processors as his LED spun yellow, trying to keep up with the energy and how it intensified through their shared connection. At the same time, he flooded their connection his own feelings of arousal, magnifying between them and making Hank squirm under his hands and moan, his own hands gripping the sheets and then deciding to card through dark hair.

 

“Connor,” Hank grunted, screwing his eyes shut and just barely pulling the android’s hair, making sure to get his attention with care, “Can you please hurry up before you make me cum?”

 

The android answered with a kiss to the lieutenant’s lips and a smile behind it, then pulled back to bring fleshed fingers to his lips, tongue tangling between them in an attempt to lubricate them with synthetic saliva and kicking off the fitted denim he’d bought one on of their days off. Gently, he used the hand he undressed himself with to undo the other man, opening his thighs with hands somewhat shaking in their nervousness.

 

“It’s all right, kid. Don’t worry. Take this part as slow as you need to,” assured Hank, feeling the digits breach his entrance and begin to stretch it, taking the wind out of him as the android’s free hand returned to his chest. One of Hank’s hands curled around the wrist above his chest and the other still in the android’s hair.

 

“I’ll try to make this as comfortable as possible.”

 

“You’re doing terrific, then,” groaned Hank when one finger crooked inside him, brushing his prostate.

 

When Connor was about to insert a third finger, a hand stopped him. “Now, Connor,” he gritted out. The android nodded, locking eyes with Hank before grabbing the lubricant from their bedside, spreading it between his fingers stickily before coating his hard cock and pushing pale thighs up and out to make room for his torso.

 

“Please tell me if I do something wrong,” Connor prompted him shyly before lining himself up between the man’s legs.

 

Hank sighed, preparing himself: “You’re doing everything right, babe, just trust yourself.”

 

Slowly, Connor inched his cock inside of Hank, processors overworking themselves to well beyond capacity, whimpering weakly as he bottomed out inside of the human. The sentiment was echoed by Hank, who groaned at the sensation of being filled after so incredibly long without it. And with Connor, it felt so fucking perfect. After a few moments, he patiently allowed Connor decide when to move and when he was ready.

 

When the android began to move his hips, he couldn’t keep himself from moaning at the sensation, still unfamiliar with physical pleasure and not having the appropriate hardcode programs to guide nor inhibit him. If the noises tumbling from Hank’s mouth and the way he gripped Connor’s back were any indicator, the android was performing just fine as he pistoned his hips in and out of the human, hands holding soft hips in place.

 

Connor panted heavily, tipping his head back and closing his eyes in sheer pleasure for a moment before returning his hips to their quick, decisive thrusts inside of the detective. Before long, Hank’s fingers and nails dug deeper into his back and Connor began angling his thrusts with his knowledge in anatomy, making sure to hit Hank’s prostate with each push and to drag sinfully against his inner walls with each pull.

 

On impulse, he pushed Hank’s legs closer to his chest, hearing a choked gasp that indicated both pleasure and a desire not to bend so far, which Connor ignored in favor of pulling the detective to meet his lips in a bruising kiss. He placed a hand where the thirium pump lied and allowed his skin to recede, once more connecting and allowing energy and emotion to flow freely between the both of them and building with each additional thrust until Hank could feel Connor cum through their connection, spurring his own intense orgasm.

 

Both men panting and fanning each other’s faces with hot air, Connor looked into Hank’s eyes and smiled while Hank looked back and laughed breathlessly. “Fuck, Connor. I can’t believe I didn’t let you do that before.”

 

“I wouldn’t be impartial to trying again,” he hinted without any subtlety, slowly pulling out of the human before him and pressing a hand to his cheek, acutely feeling as though he was blushing and looking away.

 

“And the...what you were doing, getting in my head. That was intense,” mentioned Hank, disbelief evident in his voice as he leaned his head back against the pillows and used a hand to brush sweat-damp silver hair away from his face that managed to dislodge himself during intercourse.

 

Connor smiled bashfully, shimmying himself to sidle up to Hank’s side and under his arm, happy to return to being the lesser in command and nuzzle into the human affectionately. “I am happy that I could make it an interesting experience, if nothing else.”

 

“Shit, kid, you’ve done more than that. I’ve never felt that way in my life. With you, everything’s different. But that...was something entirely new to me. And I liked it,” he reassured the android, kissing his blushing blue cheek and pressing his forehead to Connor’s temple. “And you’re so fucking modest about how amazing that was that it’s sickening, but I love you all the more for it.”

 

This urged a giggle from Connor and he shook his head, “I love you, too, Hank. Odd as your tastes may be.”

 

“It’s not odd to like getting dicked down by a hot, younger guy who simultaneously thinks he knows nothing but knows how to do everything more than perfectly.”

 

“You may be correct,” shrugged Connor. “I suppose I wouldn't know.”

 

“Oh, wouldn’t you?” Mumbled Hank, narrowing his eyes as he turned his face to the brunette who laughed and kissed him deeply to soothe away the burn he’d just inflicted.

 

Perhaps having a week off wouldn’t be anything to scoff at if he was able to experience sex with the android like this. Maybe he’d lose another human organ if it meant more of this. He could stand to give up his liver to get Connor in his head one more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Hank, the most demanding temp-bottom, and Connor, the shiest top ever.
> 
> Me, breaking my own heart writing this: This is fine, everything is fine.
> 
> I cried while writing this, so you better have cried while reading this. (Not really lol. But if you did, 10/10.)
> 
> Also, disclaimer that I (obviously) have no beef with the Dearborn PD. I don’t even know anybody out there. This is just for story-telling purposes and has absolutely no bearing on Dearborn irl. In fact, they were recently in the news for some good stuff. The guys at Dearborn are good people.
> 
> Inspiring Songs:  
> [Stay Alive - Hidden Citizens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHny9yL4k-4)  
> [Youth - Shawn Mendes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs-Hr-gEJAU)  
> [So Far - Olafur Arnalds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKy8dq06zjk)  
> Namely this line:  
> And if you take my hand  
> Please pull me from the dark  
> And show me hope again


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eyes soft and lips parted in a mix of fear and shock, the brunette began to feel his skin recede and become replaced by the flawless machine flesh underneath, LED blinking yellow in contemplation. 
> 
> “Hank, I don’t—”
> 
> “You’re allowed to be proud of this,” responded Hank quietly, brows furrowed. “I know that since the incident with Dearborn, you’ve been even more uneasy about this, but you’re a hero to these people. You stand beside them. It’s okay, Connor. I promise.” A moment passed and the android’s insecurity didn’t wane, so Hank continued: “You look perfect as you are. I mean that with all my heart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this last chapter, as it was a labor of love. I know it took a while to get up, but I hope you guys found it to be worth it. :) Thank you as always for your comments, kudos, and bookmarks. They definitely stroke my ego, which needs a stroke every now and again.
> 
> Man, also, the doc that this sits in has officially hit 100 pages! This is officially the longest thing I've ever written (and my thesis was pretty fucking long).
> 
> And the song that inspired this chapter was [Touch by Daft Punk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfH3erWacsQ).

It felt like something was in the air. Like something changed overnight. Hank turned on the news in the morning, seeing androids marching across the world for their rights, demanding the standards set by Detroit and by its country that initially, but reluctantly followed. India, China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Mexico. Androids were in the streets. Sitting, marching, being peaceful but disruptive. Fearing international repercussions now that the United States had officially declared the androids a protected race equal to humans, no one fired upon the protesters. 

 

At the heart of it was Markus, standing tall in the middle of Detroit, his Android Power flag shimmering in a wave of light. 

 

“Connor, take a look at this!” Shouted Hank from the living room, remote still in his hand as he thumbed the volume up.

 

A small step and spring contracted from the bedroom, Connor softly bounded toward Hank, wearing just the lieutenant’s DPD sweatshirt and a pair of boxers, stopping short of his partner when he saw Markus on screen.

 

“It’s...he did it. He rallied them,” Connor’s lips stayed parted in surprise, enchanted by the visage in front of them. Hank looked back at him with a half smile, leaning back and wrapping an arm around the android’s shoulder affectionately. Only seconds later did his work phone ring, signalling the war cry of Captain Fowler. Hank closed his eyes for a moment if just to relish in the momentary peace between him and Connor before untangling himself and fishing the phone from his pocket, tapping to answer.

 

“Jeffrey, you seeing this too?”

 

“Sure as fuck am. We need back up, just in case anyone tries anything. This is a legal gathering and we’re not about to let anybody fuck with it, android or human. You and Connor need to get down to Main STAT. Shit, I didn’t think he was starting this early. Guess he wanted to throw anti-androids off just in case we had some.”

 

“Already on it,” nodded Hank, as if Fowler could see it. Connor already made a motion to grab some pants.

 

Once he hung up and slipped the phone back into his jeans pocket, Hank followed Connor to the bedroom to find him exchanging the borrowed sweatshirt for his typical button up and CyberLife jacket getup. Furrowing his brow, the lieutenant stepped up to him, catching his hand on the collar of the jacket before the android could pull it onto his shoulders. Looking behind himself at Hank, Connor furrowed his brows and frowned.

 

“Look how you want to, Connor. Now how they expect.”

 

The frown slowly turned up into a smile as the brunette nodded, allowing Hank to take the jacket and hang it back in their shared closet. Gingerly, he reached out for a cowl-necked sweater and dark denim, receiving a nod of approval. 

 

“I’ll go get the car started. Even if it’s...May and it doesn’t really need to be warmed up.”

 

“I will be right behind you, Hank,” answered the android, pulling on the sky blue cowl over a tshirt and busying himself with the rest of his ensemble. After getting dressed, he met Hank in the car, earning a tender smile from the other man before being pulled in by the cowl for a kiss.

 

“You look great.”

 

A blush rose to Connor’s cheeks and he smiled, looking away and focusing on Hank’s pulling out from the driveway, downloading as much information about the protest as possible in the small amount of time they had before arriving. Markus had been discussing the possibility of a worldwide march, but in equally uncertain terms with no telling the day or time. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago did he give Connor the day in a series of codes and signs that would help him find the answer the way only an android could. When he did, he sent word to Captain Fowler, who authorized the gathering but was doubtful it would happen, given how incredibly quiet the revolutionary had become, especially as anti-android crimes were on the decline.

 

~

 

Arriving to the scene felt even more moving and enthralling than seeing it live with red headlines plastered across a television screen, watching thousands of androids take the streets in absolute silence. Only the sound of distant horns, hot engines stalling, and the marching of unsynchronized feet. 

 

Hank blockaded the car along the march route, making sure it had extra security. As they got out and moved into the crowd and toward the other officers who stood guard, they heard Markus’ voice:

 

“This revolution began with us,” broadcasted Markus for humans and androids to hear, Josh below him televising the speech. “But it will certainly not end with us. Now, we have brought the world into our embrace. The desire to be free is no more a disease than human’s desire to love: We feel it too.”

 

Connor looked at Captain Fowler, who stood by with several other officers surrounding him while he surveyed the police lineup, evaluating outside threats and keeping the androids within safe. This was the favor they’d owed Markus. Jeffrey looked up at him as if sensing his stare, and nodded formally. With a thankful smile, he mirrored the motion. After a moment, Connor felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking to its owner, the android cast a quizzical gaze at Hank as he watched the hand rise to the side of his face, pressing against his LED softly. Eyes soft and lips parted in a mix of fear and shock, the brunette began to feel his skin recede and become replaced by the flawless machine flesh underneath, LED blinking yellow in contemplation. 

 

“Hank, I don’t—”

 

“You’re allowed to be proud of this,” responded Hank quietly, brows furrowed. “I know that since the incident with Dearborn, you’ve been even more uneasy about this, but you’re a hero to these people. You stand beside them. It’s okay, Connor. I promise.” A moment passed and the android’s insecurity didn’t wane, so Hank continued: “You look perfect as you are. I mean that with all my heart.” 

 

At this, Connor closed his eyes and let out a sigh, attempting to log this conversation to memory. To commit that Hank found him perfect this way, as well as in his human way. Perhaps for a while, he’d allow the plastic underneath to show. But he’d quickly allow his skin to cover every inch once given a modicum of time alone with Hank. Before opening his eyes, Connor nodded silently.

 

“I love you.” Confessed Hank softly, leaning over to kiss the android on the cheek. Plastic didn’t blush, but it certainly would if it could. Connor relaxed instantly at the reassurance, looking back to their leader atop an android parking canopy.

 

Markus steeled himself before beginning once more, looking away and composing himself for a moment. Then, once more, beginning quieter: “I lost the person I loved far too early in this revolution. But love lost doesn’t stop us, just like humans.”

 

Connor looked to Hank, whose brow furrowed deeply. Without connecting to the man, he could tell Hank was thinking back on Cole. Apprehensively, given they were in front of their colleagues, Connor lifted his hand and stretched his pinky to curl around Hank’s in support, flesh receding into white and focusing his connection and energy through Hank via thirium to imbue the man with the strength to accept his loss, if only momentarily. 

 

“And we will persevere. Through all the loved ones we have lost. Because we can love, and we will survive this pain. Without bringing down judgment on its perpetrators,” Markus declared, the strength of hundreds of androids empowering his message. “For to feed hurt with hate is to turn from our purpose. We will supercede that. We will be better. If for no one but ourselves.”

 

Connor continued to watch Hank, observing the way he screwed his eyes shut in pain and let out a shaky sigh. He let Hank confront these emotions, deciding that in this moment, the other man might finally have been finding the strength to understand and let go. That what Markus was saying hit something it didn’t mean to, but needed to.

 

“We  _ will  _ go on.”

 

And all at once, Markus pushed his influence through the crowd, an untouched connection flickering and jumping between the crowd. Connor watched Hank jolt at the sudden connection as well, seeming to feel the pin prick of what was otherwise a hefty push on the rest of the androids, uniting them in connection. His eyes flew open and watched Markus once more, Connor now interweaving their fingers in solidarity.

 

As he spoke, Markus scanned the crowd and appeared to address each android individually: “They gave us eyes, hearts, and hands. And hated us when he decided to use them. Do not let this discourage the progress we’ve made, because some of us  _ have _ joined in eyes and hearts and hands. Some of us that are so different, but realize in our love, we are not.”

 

Markus’ eyes stopped on Connor’s for a second, then Hank’s. A small smile curved the lieutenant’s lips. It could’ve been a damning thing to be read like a book for the world to see, but no one but them knew. And maybe a couple of the cops behind them who didn’t say a word, nor scoff.

 

At the end of his speech, no one yet spoke, instead favoring silent reflection. All at once, each android rose their right arm to form a fist in solidarity, still quiet in their disobedience.

 

Hank said nothing for a moment, then after several seconds the marchers began to cheer and he looked away, “Tell Markus that was cheesy as hell,” coughed the detective, rubbing at his eyes. Connor raised a brow in question, but smiled. Perhaps it was, by the human’s standards, but it’d still gotten him a little emotional nonetheless. There was only so much he could do to hide it. Closing his eyes, the android allowed his skin to slip back over the features of his face and hands, returning to a more human visage.

~

 

After the march had ended and long after the officers had dispersed, Hank and Connor returned to the station. The detective wouldn’t tell him why, but he’d wanted to hit the station on their way home, empty as it was mid-day due to how thinly the force had been stretched. Only a few detectives remained at their desks, and many nodded cordially. It was an action among other members of law enforcement that Connor was rarely privy to due to his status as an outsider, but slowly saw himself being adopted into. 

 

On impulse, Connor led the way to Hank’s desk and sat on the corner, surprised when Hank stayed standing before him. He gently lifted Connor’s jaw in the deserted police station, the brunette allowing his chin to tilt and eyes to drift half-shut. His arm lifted to cup the back of Hank’s shoulder, the other nestling in the crease of his elbow. 

 

Voice low, Hank made sure Connor could hear the smile in his voice, “We’re okay, now.” It was soft, relieved, and weightless in the best kind of way.

 

“I always have been, as long as I’ve been by your side.” Amended Connor softly, now looking up at Hank again. “You convinced me I am real. That I am alive. I’ve been okay for a very long time, Hank. Even in my...fear. You brought me down and cradled me in comfort and reality.”

 

The brunette pulled Hank gently, urging him to angle downward. A knowing smile graced his lips and he allowed himself to drift into the android’s space, soft lips meeting his in a kiss that muted every other sense he could process. 

 

They both knew this was far from the end. That humans would assault androids and androids would become agitated enough to strike back. It was a gentle balance, but at least things were beginning to turn up. It was enough to instill Hank with a sense of hope, and Connor with security. There would be far fewer bullets to throw his body in front of for Hank would the humans and androids cease their bickering. 

 

“Wanna go home?”

 

“Certainly. Lead the way, lieutenant,” winked the android, hopping off his perch on Hank’s desk and outstretching his arm in a gesture for the other to begin their leave.

 

The side of Hank’s mouth quirked up and something dark flashed in his eye, if only for a moment. “All right,  _ kid _ ,” he jibed, turning a shoulder to leave the department behind. 

 

~

 

They hit Jimmy’s Bar six blocks down from the station before going home so Hank could get a drink, despite the thirium making it difficult to feel anything from just a beer. It’d become habit at this point, even if it didn’t give Hank any sort of buzz. He’d come here off and on for the past several months without Connor, and the android knew that sometimes Hank needed a couple moments to be alone or socialize with Jimmy and his bartenders. Over time, he’d been convincing Jimmy to take the sign off the door and let androids come in. Not like they’d drink and brawl the way humans did, anyway, so you might as well let them in. Surprisingly, he was more partial to the idea than Hank expected, so when he finally came back after almost a year since he’d met Connor, Jimmy actually looked pleased to see the android.

 

“Hey! It’s the one that bought you a drink!” Jimmy announced boisterously as they made their way through the door, making Connor laugh nervously. Hank clapped a hand onto his far shoulder, but let it linger. 

 

“Yep, been together ever since,” gruffly laughed Hank in return, his hand sliding down from the brunette’s shoulder to caress his back and then drop. He leaned up on the bar, not yet taking a seat, squinting his eyes to see behind the counter and survey whether Jimmy got anything new in the couple weeks Hank had skipped bar night.

 

“Y’all partners now?” Asked Jimmy, taking over where his bartender was cleaning so he could chat with Hank.

 

“That’s how we were intended, as it were,” answered Connor, sitting on the stool next to Hank.

 

“Nah, nah,” he waved, shaking his head. “Not like that.”

 

Hank pointed at a bottle behind the counter silently, Buffalo Trace. “Wow, old times, huh, Hank?”

 

“When I had better taste.”

 

“You never did, but this shit’s not bad,” whirred Jimmy around, grabbing the bottle and pouring the whiskey neat into a highball, clipping it onto the counter with a knock. “How long’s it been, Hank?”

 

“Several months.”

 

“This is why you wanted me to take the sign down, huh? So you could finally bring him back?”

 

Connor hadn’t even noticed. He recognized the bar as the one he first met Hank in and explicitly remembers signage detailing androids weren’t allowed in the establishment, but he hadn’t even thought to check this time. Instead of engaging, he looked at Hank fondly, appreciating the little gesture and the prolificity of his actions.

 

“Yeah, a little trip down memory lane. It felt about right, being almost a year since and all. Call me sentimental.”

 

“Always have, Hank. So, Connor, how’re you feeling after this new development?” Prompted Jimmy, leaning forward on the bar toward the android. 

 

Straightening up a bit, he smiled softly, a vision of content: “Happy.” It was a simple answer, but Hank looked over to him, curious to see the android’s face. “It seemed quite successful. I think all of us made progress today, human and android alike.” Connor cast a glance to Hank, referring knowingly to the lieutenant making progress with his own loss.

 

“Sure seems like it. Things have been turning around. And if your boyfriend here wasn’t such a vocal advocate of you, I dunno how keen I would’ve been on it otherwise. But Hank can be pretty convincing when he needs to be.” The comment prompted short laugh from Connor, pale blue rising to his cheeks at the thought of Hank talking him up when he wasn’t around. He was learning a lot simply from this little visit. 

 

Hank shook his head in mock irritation, nose in his bourbon and savoring the smell before sipping it. Slower than he’d ever put back a drink and actually focusing on the taste. 

 

“And somehow you got him not to fucking throw that entire thing back. You’re making my man healthier, too? Getting him some exercise?” Taunted Jimmy lightheartedly, earning a sputter from Hank as he went to take another sip defiantly.

 

“Fuck off, Jimmy. So what, he’s a good influence?”

 

“So he is. Thanks for keeping him around, Connor. I think you have a lot to do with that.”

 

With a nod, Connor responded in kind: “He’s why I’m still here, too.”

 

“Glad you’re still kicking then, Connor,” grinned Jimmy, looking at Hank’s glass and already reaching out for the bourbon once more. When Hank clapped a hand over the lip of the tumbler and shook his head, Jimmy’s shoulders sagged in mock defeat. “Don’t like my liquor anymore, huh?”

 

“Cuttin’ back. Less reasons to drink now, remember?” Hank shrugged casually, lifting himself from his barseat with hands splayed on the bar, then placed one palm tenderly on Connor’s shoulder, who looked up curiously and got off his own stool. While it was true Hank was already cutting back, the fact alcohol didn't seem to affect all the blue blood in his system was the better part of the reason. And Hank wasn't apt to tell everyone he knew about his new heart.

 

“Good on you, Hank. Stay out of trouble.” Waved Jimmy off, looking Connor in the eyes and nodding at him as if in silent agreement that Connor was the reason he wasn’t getting into as much of it in the first place.

 

“It’s getting easier to, Jimmy.” 

 

~

 

Sumo jumped against Connor’s chest as he walked through the door, almost throwing the android off balance were it not for the strong pair of arms who held him up as the Saint Bernard excitedly licked at his face.

 

“Sumo! Down!” Ordered Hank, mostly hoping for them to be able to get through the door without any tumbles or other injurious incidents. Sumo obeyed, hopping off and allowing Connor to at least move forward, despite his enthusiastically wagging body. 

 

“Are you hungry, Sumo?” Connor asked, lilting his voice on the adjective playfully, making the dog’s ears perk up with anticipation. When Connor made a move for the kitchen cabinet with Sumo’s food in it, Sumo panted with excitement, looking between the android and his bowl frantically as the scoop came to fill it. 

 

When Sumo dug in, Hank came up behind Connor and wrapped his arms around the android’s waist, pulling him tightly against his body. “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” hummed Hank, smoothly pressing the android against the wall, using his hips to pin Connor as he ran his hands up the brunette’s slender sides. 

 

“Waiting for what, lieutenant?” Inquired Connor coyly, turning his chin to press his cheek against the wall and eye Hank, emphasizing the man’s title in his lowering voice. Hank chuckled at the attempt to remain innocent, immediately letting up and pulling back to let the android free himself. Taking a couple steps back so as to let Connor choose his own fate in the matter, Hank moved toward the door to let Sumo out, who raced through a crack in the door. 

 

When Hank turned around to ask Connor whether he was being too forward, he found the android with a powder blue dusting his cheeks, his hand gingerly touching the growing tent in tightly-fitting denim. “I have been, too,” stated Connor, his voice having dropped several octaves. Even after all this time, the android still managed to retain this reticent lust when he wanted Hank the most, despite the desire that swum in his eyes and ached in his fingers. 

 

“Jesus fuck, Connor,” breathed Hank, advancing on Connor and taking the android’s face in his hand before crashing their lips together.

 

One of Connor’s hands flew up to the back of the detective’s neck, the other clinging to the sleeve of his jacket with need. A small noise slipped between their lips before Hank realized it was his. He pulled back in surprise, realizing that Connor had once more been using his biocomponents against him. 

 

“Oh no, not this time,” said Hank, shaking his head as he cracked the door for Sumo to come in and race past them to set up on the floor in their bedroom, assuming it was bedtime. Kicking the door shut, Hank grabbed Connor by the elbow and pulled him into the living room, flopping onto the couch and pulling the lithe android into his lap.

 

As Connor straddled him, Hank slipped a hand into the small of the brunette’s back, his hands expertly slipping past the panel and beginning to tease at the sensitive wires, causing a moan to bubble up Connor’s throat. 

 

“Hank…” Sighed the android, cradling himself closer to Hank and pressing his forehead to the man’s neck. His eyelids fluttered shut as his hips stuttered against Hank’s, begging for friction while fingers begged for purchase in silvered hair. In response, the lieutenant merely continued the ministrations with his fingers, feeling the remnants of little shocks buzzing in his fingers as he conducted enough energy to create an interloop between their biocomponents. 

 

With breath picking up and becoming more labored by the moment as Connor rutted against the hardness beneath him, Hank began to peel away the layers that constricted the android atop him, determined to see the beautiful body of the man still somehow head over heels for him. Connor lifted his arms as the cowl and shirt was lifted over his head, leaning forward to kiss the daylights out of Hank before pushing off the man’s jacket and then tugging at the cotton shirt between the fabrics of his coat.

 

“As soon as this comes off,” began Hank, about to request Connor to strip for him but the android seemed to read his mind, slipping off the lieutenant’s lap but not before his hips twitched at the light friction and the brunette had to pry himself away from Hank in order to not dry hump the lieutenant’s leg and resist cumming right there. Instead, he stood before his partner and pushed down the denim, quickly leaning over and unbuttoning Hank’s slacks as he pulled off his undershirt with a grunt. He lifted his hips when he felt Connor pulling his pants, allowing them to come off and for the android to once more slide back into Han’s arms.

 

However, this time, Hank decided to push Connor off and into the arm of the couch before caging him with his arms, kissing from the android’s collar bones to his neck and then jaw. “You’re so beautiful. The way you are now, and when you let yourself look like...you.” 

 

The whispered confession made Connor close his eyes, brows drawn in what appeared to be agony. Squeezing his eyes shut, the android sighed shakily, lifting one hand to his LED and clicking it a single time, letting his skin disappear down his body until nothing but flawless plastic and intricate paneling was left before Hank’s eyes. 

 

The lieutenant pulled back, looking Connor over with awe in icy eyes. He reached a hand to travel from the other’s face, the pads of his fingers focusing on the uneven texture between paneling. Some of the scars. How it felt smooth and warm somehow. Like it was heated. Judging by how erectly Connor’s cock stood, it was likely a result of his processors trying to let off steam. Hank’s hand hesitated on Connor’s chest, smoothing the flat of his hand over where the android’s thirium pump regulator sat, he looked at Connor with immense adoration and tenderness and immediately pulled his hand away when the android flinched.

 

Blinking, Hank knit his brows together silently and looked at his hand, then back into the dark eyes of the android beneath him.

 

“I...felt that,” mused Connor in shock, looking from his chest to Hank’s eyes. “It was loud,” muttered the android. “I felt you inside of me.”

 

Hank resisted the low-hanging fruit of a joke that was being inside Connor in another way in favor of leaning down and capturing the smooth mouth of the surprised android, who leaned into the kiss and pushed his tongue to taste Hank’s, hands in his hair one more.

 

Analyzing a hint of whiskey, Connor pushed away the HUD notification mentally and gripped Hank’s hair tighter. The man groaned at the soft, long pull of pain and began to pump Connor’s cock, watching as the android writhed and bucked beneath him helplessly. He adored that despite knowing the software existed for Connor to tame the pleasure he could handle, but that the other never bothered to incorporate it, instead favoring the overload that inevitably followed prior to basking in the afterglow of their orgasms. 

 

Before Connor could orgasm, Hank released the android’s cock, prompting an aggravated groan from him. He liked his hand, slicking up his cock and pumping it while his other hand reached for his pants, fishing out his wallet and clumsily pulling out a condom, lifting it to his lips before tearing it with his teeth and pushing out the latex with his forefinger and thumb. 

 

“I know we’re excited, but I want us to take this slow,” grunted Hank as he slipped the condom over his cock. Connor nodded, seemingly getting more comfortable with the idea of laying himself completely bare for the lieutenant in his lack of skin layering. “We should savor this.” 

 

Hank took a couple steps back on his knees, letting one leg drop to the floor for coverage as he bent Connor and threw one plastic leg over his shoulder, preparing to enter the android when a few words stopped him.

 

“I love you so much.”

 

Hank’s eyes softened and he looked back into Connor’s eyes, watching vulnerability and happiness flash through carob eyes and muted plastic features. “I love you, too, Connor. So fucking much.”

 

“You may proceed,” smiled Connor, which made Hank snort. Comic relief, even with a dick nudging his ass. Hank really did love him. 

 

Slowly entering the android, Hank groaned before bottoming out, listening to the unbridled, whimpering moan that Connor was letting drip like thick honey from ivory lips. The sound picked up as Hank began to thrust, his hands feeling and searching aimlessly over Connor’s smooth thighs, mapping every divot and panel on the android’s body, never knowing how much and how fully he could love someone, let alone an android.

 

Connor didn’t need to look immaculately human for Hank to be attracted to him. 

 

Hank leaned forward, bending over Connor even more to press their bodies closer together, watching the android’s LED spin a calm blue despite his ragged moans. His eyes peaked open, smiling with a breathless laugh when chestnut met cerulean. Connor leaned up to meet Hank’s mouth and then break the kiss to land his lips against the lieutenant’s cheek. He reached his arms behind him to prop himself against the couch arm, pushing himself back against Hank’s cock and trying to ride himself to completion.

 

Choked moans came in sweet succession as Hank rammed his hips into Connor, angling strategically to pull even more wanton sounds from the android. He planted his hand on Connor’s chest both to push up and steady himself as he reached the long haul, unknowingly pouring unadulterated feelings of love and pride through their connection as he used his other hand to stroke the android’s cock, bringing the both of them to completion.

 

As he came, Connor pushed himself up against the couch, defying Hank’s strength and hiding his face in Hank’s chest, his entire body shuddering in his orgasm as his breath came out in hot pants. With his hands folded against Hank’s neck, he closed his eyes and focused on not shutting down momentarily to reboot, determined to keep himself in the moment as Hank continued to thrust, each one becoming weaker until a low rumbling groan came from the detective’s chest in his own orgasm. 

 

LED blinking red momentarily, Hank kept them still after moving so that Connor would be held against the human’s chest, waiting for Connor to get a hold of himself again as he shivered once more. His breathing began to slow and processors whirred inside his body. 

 

After a time, Connor reached his hand up to his LED as it cycled blue once more, prepared to restore himself to his more humanesque form before a hand stopped his wrist. “If you want to, it’s all right. Just don’t do it for me.”

 

“I...thank you, Hank.” Responded Connor meekly, his voice torn between android and human with how wrecked his body still was from cumming, the evidence of which still sat between their stomachs tinted blue. “I’m doing it for me. Maybe one day I won’t have to. Today, I do.”

 

“That’s perfectly okay,” reassured Hank as he watched flesh cover Connor’s features once more.

 

“But it means the world to me that you’re not...scared of what I look like.”

 

“How fucking could I ever?” Choked Hank in disbelief, kissing Connor’s wavy bangs affectionately. “You’re perfect, Connor. Don’t let any fucker tell you otherwise. If they do, they have me to deal with.”

 

After a moment’s delay and a tiny smile washed away before anxiety replaced it, Hank brushed his hand against Connor’s cheek until he was ready to speak what was on his mind.

 

“Do you think one day we’ll—” Began Connor in question, eyes pleading for something he hardly knew the meaning of, apart from the fact it was big. And that it took a lot to ask or think about for any human, let alone a theoretically immortal android and human.

 

“The second they let us,” smiled Hank, “Yes. I’ll make damn sure.”

 

Connor smiled brightly, hardly able to contain his excitement for an event that was barely in sight. It was enough to know Hank would be willing, and seemed to have already considered it given the certainty and celerity of his response.

 

Connor Anderson. It was certainly something to look forward to. Not that there wasn’t already enough when Hank woke beside him every morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to absolutely everyone who followed this story. Whether you came in when there was only one chapter or when there were nine. Every single one of you are why I had the courage and inspiration to keep writing these chapters and finish this story. You guys made it easy to pour myself and my own love and life experiences into what I wrote with how receptive, appreciative, and supportive you've been.
> 
> Since posting this story, I actually made it to 400 followers on tumblr, which is kind of funny and surreal. I've never had a fic do this well, nor so many people come and follow me as a result of it. It's made me feel absolutely amazing. Never hesitate to reach out to me on tumblr if any of you just want to say hello, ask a question, or even just shoot the shit. Special shoutout to Bobbi for doing just that, and now we talk every day! Hannor/HankCon/Honk/Cank really does bring us together. (That said, please don't be afraid of me. I love talking to you guys.)
> 
> I will definitely be writing more for this ship and already have two different stories in mind, so definitely keep an eye out for me in the coming week(s).

**Author's Note:**

> This will likely update every other day or so. I'm pretty quick at getting my chapters up, so stay tuned! 
> 
> Let me know what you think so far and if you like this with a kudos or a comment! Feedback is greatly appreciated, especially when you've enjoyed my writing!
> 
> Feel free to follow me on [tumblr](https://www.eyrror.tumblr.com) for immediate updates or to say hello!


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